A Ninja's Toolbox
by JBGilroy
Summary: Casper High is visiting Norrisville for a game as part a new school network. At least that was before a giant robot attacks. Meanwhile Randy is having difficulty coping with his ninja responsibilities. Perhaps the Norrisville Ninja and Danny Phantom will join forces but they both have secrets to protect... (T rating to be safe)
1. Chapter 1

**The winner of the poll is here!**

 **This fanfic was requested way back when and I think it was my first request. So firstly, I'm so sorry it took so long to write. I have so many stories going at once that I've actually told myself to finish the ones I'm doing before taking new stories on. But… yeah, I doubt that will last long.**

 **Anyway… this is based during the third season of Danny Phantom, so Danny has his ice powers but no one but Team Phantom knows his secret. Randy Cunningham… hm, well I couldn't really figure out when I wanted to base this so Julian hasn't gone to the dark side wearing white. So your choice whether it's before the power ball thing or after. The Norrisville Goth doesn't feature but he is mentioned in passing.**

 **I don't own Danny Phantom or Randy Cunningham 9** **th** **grade ninja.**

 **So I hope you enjoy the story after such a long wait…**

Danny huffed a tuft of black hair out of his eyes. Sam glanced at him.

"You're still sulking aren't you?" she smirked.

"No! I just don't see why our _entire_ class has to come to cheer on the team. Amity Park needs Phantom. And Valerie can't cover for me since she's here. You know my dad can't hit anything," Danny muttered.

"But your mom can," Tucker interjected softly, looking up from his PDA and leaning forward into the conversation. Danny bobbed his head.

"Alright, yeah. But that's one decent ghost hunter in the most haunted town in America. That's not enough," Danny retorted.

"Ah Danny, it's just a day. Stop worrying so much," Sam assured the teen, and glanced out of the school bus window.

"Is this Norrisville Tuck?" Sam asked, nodding to the town the bus had entered. Tucker shuffled closer to the window, having the two seats behind Sam and Danny all to himself.

"Looks like it. There's the mountain, Mount Chuck. And hey look! McFist Industries pyramid! Oh man, I wish-" Tucker exclaimed.

"Don't finish that sentence!" Danny interjected quickly. Tucker clamped a hand over his mouth and turned to Danny.

"Sorry dude, I forgot for a sec about Desiree. I mean it's such a normal thing to say," Tucker apologised. Danny nodded slowly.

"I get it Tuck. Just… I don't want to give any ghosts any ideas or openings to attack here. We're so far away from Amity Park that if Phantom had to deal with anything it could seriously endanger my secret," Danny replied softly. Tucker and Sam nodded in understanding.

"Now listen up people! When we get to Norrisville High, I want you to behave and get off the bus in an orderly fashion! Any pushing or shoving will be rewarded with detention!" Mr Lancer called from the front. Danny sighed.

"As long as you're not on the team," he added softly. His friends sighed and agreed. It was well known that the jocks in Casper High were immune to punishment for any wrong doing they did. Up to and including bullying, food fights and the occasional skipped class. Homework was optional as long as their average grade was above Ds.

A few minutes later, the bus trundled to a stop. The doors opened and the students began to file off. They stood outside a large angular white building. There was a crowd and a stage on the lawn outside.

"Casper High! Welcome!" a slight man with glasses and a squeaky voice called through a microphone. Then a man with an impressive blonde moustache and a mechanical hand pushed the man out of the way.

"Yes yes, Principal Slimovitz. Thank you for the kind introduction. I am proud to announce that Norrisville High and Casper High are the first schools to avail of the McFist School Network. This enables easy student transfers and an internal championship in sports such as football, soccer, basketball and the like," the man announced and paused to grin at the applause.

The Casper High students made their way closer and Mr Lancer went up on the stage to stand next Principal Slimovitz. Danny sighed and folded his arms.

"Who is this guy?" he asked no one in particular disinterestedly.

"Dude! He's Hannibal McFist! His company is one of the foremost companies in designing technology!" Tucker exclaimed, appalled that his friend hadn't known that.

"Okay, so why's he here for this?" Sam inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"Guys, he does tons of stuff like this. He's a philanthropist and he's into tons of stuff. Whoopee World. Sweets. He funds this school! He has robots that manage the town's cleaning," Tucker listed. Danny frowned.

"How come I've never heard of him then?" Danny challenged curiously. Tucker shrugged.

"He doesn't do much of that stuff outside of Norrisville. He beta tests his tech here too so there's a ton of stuff you can only get here that never makes it to the wider market. But the stuff that is released outside this town… Man, it's some sweet stuff," Tucker answered with a distant longing expression. Sam smirked.

"You're gonna sneak off to go shopping aren't you?" she remarked softly.

"You can come too," Tucker offered. Danny and Sam laughed.

They politely applauded when the crowd started to clap as Mr Lancer shook hands with McFist.

"Well! We're going to head inside to the cafeteria for a buffet lunch provided by Mr McFist!" Principal Slimovitz began, interrupted by rowdy cheers. The teacher smirked.

"We'll have something to eat and then we'll have our basketball game in an hour," Principal Slimovitz resumed.

"Basketball?" Danny repeated.

"Yeah, it's a basketball match we're playing," Sam confirmed.

"You'd think our substitute mascot would know that," Tucker teased. Danny scowled.

"I can't believe you talked me into that in the first place. And I really can't believe that once you agree you are forever pinned with that job!" Danny complained.

Suddenly the earth shook.

"Woah!" Sam exclaimed as she nearly fell over.

"Tuck, is Norrisville on a fault line?" Danny asked worriedly, knowing already that it hadn't been an earthquake. Tucker shook his head.

"The mountain is a manmade volcano. No fault line," Tucker affirmed.

"Manmade? How can a volcano be manmade?" Sam muttered. Tucker frowned.

"I don't know! I'm not a tour guide. I just know about McFist Industries," Tucker hissed. Then a massive robot that towered over the school emerged from a nearby street. It was vaguely humanoid with large, thick legs and arms armed with a multitude of weapons.

Danny gasped and glanced around to find a hiding place.

"Now everyone, remain calm and-run!" Principal Slimovitz called through the microphone before screaming and jumping off the stage. The crowd began to scatter, the Casper High students running towards the school after the local kids. Danny scanned the area and bit his lip. He didn't know this place. He didn't know how many security cameras were around or where the good hiding places were. He couldn't use the old, "I was in the bathroom" excuse because he had just arrived. Danny Phantom couldn't just turn up without a reason either. But fortunately, his dilemma was solved as a teen in black and red clothes and a mask jumped off the school roof with a flip and unsheathed a sword.

"Ninja sword!" the ninja exclaimed and slashed the sword against the metal skin of the robot. A resounding clang echoed over the school grounds. The ninja cried out in pain and dropped his sword, shaking his hand.

"Ow! Ow ow ow," the ninja moaned. While he was distracted, the robot grabbed the ninja and threw him in to a car.

"My car! Not again," Principal Slimovitz yelled from his hiding place. Danny, Sam and Tucker exchanged looks. The ninja got to his feet and flipped away from the wrecked car and sprinted towards the robot.

"Ninja sprint!" the ninja shouted.

"I'm sorry, but a ninja that shouts all the time," Danny pointed out to his friends.

"Yeah, and he looks like an amateur too. I mean, getting caught like that," Sam added.

"Hey! That's the Norrisville Ninja you're dissing!" a short boy with red hair growled.

"Alright, still doesn't mean he isn't sucking in this fight," Danny retorted. The boy scowled angrily.

"I'd like to see you guys do better!" the boy challenged. Danny glanced at the boy before turning to Tucker.

"Reckon you could show them how to deal with a robot?" Danny inquired. Tucker grinned and pulled out his PDA.

Minutes later, the ninja was clearly running out of ideas and chucking anything he could think of at the robot. Bee balls, cold balls, sai. Everything but nothing made a dent. Tucker tapped on his PDA and then with a triumphant smirk, clicked the final button. The robot slumped where it stood.

"Huh?! I mean… I wore you out robot! Don't mess with the ninja!" the ninja goaded quickly. He grabbed his sword and struck a pose and took out a ball from his belt.

"Fear not students! The robot has been dealt with. Smoke bomb!" the ninja announced, dropping the ball and disappearing in a cloud of red smoke. Danny snorted. Tucker shoved his PDA in his pocket.

"You were saying?" he taunted, the red head boy gaping at the techno geek.

"How?" he began. Tucker grinned. Danny scanned the school and cringed. A large wing of the school was destroyed and the lawn was pock-marked with craters leftover from the fight.

"Wow. That's a lot of damage," Sam muttered, thinking the same as Danny.

"Hey! It trashed our bus too," Tucker pointed out.

"Man, that ninja doesn't know how to contain a fight," Danny mumbled with a shake of his head.

 **Any guesses who the Norrisville boy talking with the Phantom trio was?**

 **And yes, the comment about signing up as a mascot is referencing What You Want when Danny was mascot for a game but had to leave because of a ghost.**

 **In this fanfic, Danny is a lot more experienced than Randy is so the halfa does know what he's talking about.**

 **Let me know what you think of the first chapter.**

 **Until the next chapter.**


	2. Chapter 2

Randy took off his mask and slipped into the crowd filtering into the cafeteria. He sighed with relief and grabbed a plate of food from the buffet, McFist robo-apes serving the students. He smiled as he spotted his best friend, Howard Weinnerman already sitting down eating. He dropped into the seat next to the red head.

"Hey Howard. Pretty bruce how I took out that robot right," Randy muttered proudly.

"Cunningham, I know you didn't beat that thing," Howard retorted.

"What?! Are you kidding me!? Did you not see the ninja fighting that robot?" Randy exclaimed defensively. Howard scoffed.

"You threw whatever you found in your pockets at it. That's not fighting Cunningham," Howard replied.

"I'd like to see you do better. That thing had skin so hard my sword couldn't just cut through it," Randy grumbled.

"I admit, I couldn't have done better. But I know who really _did_ beat that honking big robot," Howard revealed.

"Oh really? Cause I didn't see anyone else fighting. Are they invisible?" Randy taunted. Howard shook his head and pointed a finger across the cafeteria towards a trio of teens sitting in the corner.

"The one in the hat. He used some tech thing," Howard answered. Randy scrutinised the teen. He wore a red beret, glasses and was holding a tech thing. He was laughing with a girl that dressed a lot like Julian, the resident Goth, and a boy with black hair and blue eyes.

"Really? Cause usually people own up to beating a robot," Randy retorted sceptically. Howard nodded.

"I was at a safe distance filming you acting like a complete schoob when I heard those three saying the ninja wasn't a bruce fighter. Anyway, I called to them to, you know, correct them. And the other guy, not with the hat, turned to the hat guy and told him to deal with the robot. It was the cheese Cunningham, he typed a bunch of things on that tech thing and then the robot stopped. Then, get this, they walked away!" Howard recalled. Randy paused as he was about to take a bite of his food.

"You're sure they aren't with McFist?" Randy muttered worriedly. Howard shrugged.

"Don't think so. They're from Casper High," Howard replied.

"Wouldn't be the first time that a student from another school was a robot and with McFist," Randy reminded him.

"Yeah, but it _is_ the first time for one to help and not take credit," Howard pointed out. Randy nodded thoughtfully.

"Think about it Cunningham, if you could do that for every robot, you wouldn't have to fight robots so much or for as long. The ninja could ask that kid to teach him," Howard suggested. Randy raised an eyebrow.

"Maybe," Randy mumbled slowly.

"Attention! Attention! I have an important announcement. Thanks to the robot attack earlier the gym was completely demolished and since the pitch was torn up a week ago by a monster, the basketball match will have to be postponed!" Principal Slimovitz shouted over the chatter in the cafeteria. A number of students groaned in disappointment.

"Also due to the Casper High school bus being damaged, the Casper High students will have to stay here until a replacement bus or an alternative can be found," Principal Slimovitz resumed. A number of the Casper High students moaned but a few actually looked alarmed, a girl with big bushy black hair and the trio that had helped the ninja.

"But not to worry! McFist Industries will provide for you and your teacher is calling home to explain the situation," Principal Slimovitz assured the students. Howard grinned.

"This is perfect Cunningham! You'll have more time to learn from that kid now. And I bet that stuff could come in handy other than in robot fights," Howard encouraged. Randy put his hand to his chin.

"Do continue," Randy prompted.

"Think about it Cunningham, if that kid can shut down a killer robot, changing our grades on the school system should be easy! We'd never get a bad report card. And-and you could probably find out what McFist is planning before he sends out the robots. You might never have to fight robots ever again! You'd still have to deal with stanked kids. But imagine how much more time we'd have to play Grave Puncher. Imagine how much more time we could spend in Greg's Game Hole!" Howard offered. Randy smirked.

"Alright. You've convinced me. One condition, you learn with me," Randy agreed.

"Well duh! Cunningham, I want to be able to do all that stuff too!" Howard affirmed.

"Bruce! I'll ask him as soon-" Randy began only to be interrupted by a red glow and buzz from his backpack beside him.

"Oh no! No! No nomicon! That thing will just tell you it's a bad idea or something," Howard complained. Randy sighed.

"Sorry Howard. I'll… I'll just see what the nomicon wants and then we'll go ask that kid," Randy mumbled apologetically, secretly knowing that Howard was right. He grabbed his bag and slipped into the bathroom. He stepped into the last stall, dropped the toilet seat and sat down. He pulled out the red and black book of ancient ninja knowledge. He opened the book and he fell into a trance-like state, hitting his head against the wall.

Everything changed and Randy was falling through a paper-like world. He crashed to the ground. He got to his feet and dusted off his trousers.

"Alright nomicon. What's up?!" Randy called. An outlined drawing of a ninja walked into view carrying a toolbox. Then another ninja walked in carrying a large mace. The second ninja gave the mace to the first and the ninja dropped the toolbox. The ninja flipped the toolbox open and attempted to ram the mace inside but it didn't fit. The ninja then dropped the mace and jumped on top to force it inside. The handle bowed and fell inside the toolbox. The ninja dusted his hands and went to shut the toolbox only for it to spring out and knock the ninja unconscious.

Randy then looked up as writing appeared in the air.

"Some weapons are not meant to fit in a ninja's toolbox," Randy read. He frowned.

"What the juice!? That makes no sense! I don't have a toolbox! And even if I did, I don't think I'd keep my sword or whatever in it. That's what the ninja suit is for!" Randy reasoned with annoyance. Randy turned and the second ninja had returned with his recovered mace and hit Randy on the head.

Randy jerked upright and wiped away the dribble on his chin. Randy scowled at the nomicon and shoved it back into his bag. Rubbing his head where he hit it against the wall, Randy returned to his seat next to Howard.

"So what did the nomicon say?" Howard asked, already disappointed that he couldn't follow through on his plan.

"Oh just the usual riddle stuff. So we doing this?" Randy answered with a dismissive shrug.

"Seriously! Wait… what kind of riddle?" Howard inquired suspiciously.

"Some weapons are not meant to fit in a ninja's toolbox," Randy recited.

"What the juice? You don't _have_ a toolbox," Howard retorted.

"Exactly what I said!" Randy agreed.

"That's wonk. So the nomicon's just spouting nonsense?" Howard remarked.

Randy smirked.

"So, how are we doing this? I put on the mask but then what?" Randy asked. Howard frowned in thought.

"Well, I could ask the kid to show me some of that stuff and the ninja could come at the right time and ask to tag along," Howard offered. Randy nodded.

"So a coincidence? Meeting accidently on purpose?" Randy clarified sceptically. Howard shrugged.

"Howard… that… is the most… bruce plan ever! When are you gonna ask him?" Randy complimented excitedly. Howard sniffed proudly.

"I could ask now," Howard suggested. Randy nodded.

"Bruce. Go. I'll be in the hall," Randy encouraged and rushed off to implement the plan.

Howard waited a few minutes before he crossed the cafeteria to join the three teens he met outside.

"Hey, mind if I ask how you stopped that robot?" Howard asked hopefully. The teens froze and glanced at each other.

"Er, I… don't know what you're um talking about. We were hiding in a classroom," the hat teen stammered. Howard raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not gonna tell anyone," Howard reassured them, grabbing a seat.

"Look kid. What I did… it's not… exactly… legal," the hat teen muttered nervously.

"Tuck, you shouldn't admit that," the girl hissed.

"It was a one-time thing alright? And your ninja guy already said he beat that robot remember?" the black haired teen interjected. Howard frowned.

"About that. After you guys left, I saw the ninja and I told him it was really you guys. He… he wants to meet you guys but doesn't want to come in here," Howard ventured seeing that plan A wasn't going to work. The hat guy's eyes widened in alarm.

"When?" the other guy asked. Howard glanced at the teen.

"Now if you can," Howard answered. The teen nodded.

"Give us a few seconds. We'll follow you out," the teen decided. Howard blinked before nodding. He got up and walked across the cafeteria.

 **I hope I captured Howard and Randy right. Especially with their slang words. It wasn't easy to incorporate them.**

 **Does anyone understand what the nomicon was telling Randy? Review your guesses please.**

 **Let me know what you guys think of the story so far.**

 **Until the next chapter.**


	3. Chapter 3

Danny watched which door the red head went out.

"Dude! Why did you agree to meet that ninja?!" Tucker hissed worriedly. Danny turned to his friend.

"Because we need to cover this up as quietly as possible. Worst case scenario, I threaten them. Besides, we're going to be here for a couple of days. I'd rather not be on high alert worrying about some ninja exposing our resident techno-geek as a world class hacker," Danny explained. Tucker and Sam blinked before nodding in understanding.

Danny got up and led the way across the cafeteria, passing a trashcan along the way to look less obvious. They could always say they were looking for a bathroom and got lost if they ended up somewhere they shouldn't. They left the cafeteria through the same door the red head did and scanned the hallway. The boy poked his head out of a doorway as the cafeteria door clicked loudly shut.

"In here!" he whisper-shouted.

Danny, Sam and Tucker entered the room and instantly saw the ninja from earlier, striking a superhero pose. Sam raised an eyebrow.

"So, um… I'm Howard," the red head ventured, deciding to break the uncomfortable silence.

"Why did you want to meet us?" Danny asked, ignoring the obvious prompt for an introduction. He didn't think sharing names was a wise idea until he knew why the ninja wanted to talk to Tucker. They could end up incriminating themselves further. Danny internally groaned. Why did he have to be so smug and ask Tucker so obviously in front of Howard to take care of the robot?

"Oh… uh well, I was hoping to ask you to teach me how to do what you did. You see I'm constantly fighting robots and if I could shut them down rather than having to rip them apart, it would be a lot easier," the ninja admitted nervously. Danny blinked. They weren't looking for trouble after all. Just a couple of hacking lessons. He turned to Tucker. The techno-geek was clearly relieved and with unnecessary flourish, he took out his PDA.

"Alright then, but hacking isn't nearly as easy as I make it out to be. So step one in being a top notch hacker is you never know when you need your tech so always carry something small with you. I have my PDA. But a good quality phone would do," Tucker began to instruct. Danny and Sam leant against a table and let Tucker teach the ninja and Howard.

"That's a relief," Sam whispered. Danny nodded seriously in agreement.

"Tucker's loving this," Danny chuckled as the techno-geek lectured and demonstrated on his PDA at length. Howard looked completely lost though.

"Well, it's not every day that someone takes an interest in his tech. He'd better enjoy it while it lasts because either they'll get bored or confused or we'll leave. Whichever comes first," Sam muttered. Danny nodded.

"So as long as you keep that in mind, you should be able to pick up the basics. But what you want hacking for, you'll need to learn a few tricks. Those are better self-taught as every hacker has their own style and techniques. Makes hackers better at their job as no security system can cover every trapdoor in their software," Tucker concluded.

"Wait, hold on! That's the _easy_ stuff!" Howard exclaimed. Tucker blinked and nodded.

"Yeah. You guys didn't think that hacking is straightforward did you?" Tucker replied.

"Well yeah. At least we hoped so," the ninja mumbled.

"I could give you a couple of lessons. It's easier when you can see and do this stuff as we go though. We could use your school computers," Tucker suggested.

"Sure. We can go after school. Computer club isn't on today right Howard?" the ninja offered. Howard shook his head.

"That's on Mondays. It's Friday," Howard informed them.

The five teens agreed to meet up outside the computer room fifteen minutes after the final bell. Then Danny, Sam and Tucker returned to the cafeteria in time for Mr Lancer to make an announcement.

"We won't be able to get a bus until Monday at the soonest but Mr McFist has already offered us housing in a housing estate he's been building. Each house will be headed by a McFist robo-ape. I've been told that the robots are very intelligent and perfectly safe to be around. We'll be organising sleeping arrangements and ground rules once we get there. Mr McFist is also offering to pay for any essentials you may need," the overweight teacher informed the room. Danny groaned.

"Great. A whole weekend here. I really hope mom and dad can handle any ghosts," he muttered.

"Until then, you will be joining classes in Norrisville High. Just because we aren't in Amity Park doesn't mean you miss school. I'll give you all your schedules once they have been organised and printed by Principal Slimovitz," Mr Lancer resumed.

Danny sighed and led the way over to a table where the trio sank into the plastic chairs.

"Danny, stop stressing. You couldn't have predicted a monstrous robot thing attacking us. You should take this opportunity to relax," Sam suggested. Danny glanced at her.

"Yeah dude. No ghosts are gonna be around to wake you up while we're here. No ghost weapons either, apart from Valerie's and ours. We can totally make this into a holiday for us," Tucker agreed cheerfully. Danny smirked, seeing Tucker's good mood from Howard and the ninja displaying an interest in tech and hacking.

"I guess you're right. But… I can't help but feel worried and concerned. What if a ghost attacks and my mom can't handle it? What if they get hurt or Amity Park gets taken over?" Danny muttered.

"Danny, it's just a weekend," Sam pressed, putting a hand on his arm. Danny nodded and smiled at her, hiding his fears from her. His friends were right. This extended stay in Norrisville could be a blessing for him. He could catch up on his sleep, he'd be able to eat the recommended three meals. But he was still worried about his home. He was their hero. It wasn't something he could just switch off.

Hannibal McFist was furious. His latest plot to destroy the ninja was a failure and because of the ninja he had to pay for numerous repairs and to house the Casper High students. The money didn't really matter to McFist. But the ninja had defeated his robot without even causing it to explode! The robot just… stopped. Viceroy had guaranteed that this robot would be undefeatable. He specially designed the robot to be impenetrable.

"Viceroy!" McFist screamed as he entered the evil scientist's lab.

"Coming Hannibal," the scientist called reluctantly. The slim man peered nervously around his next project before straightening his lab coat and stepping into view.

"You said that robot would be unbeatable!" McFist growled, pointing furiously out the window. He had yet to get the robo-apes to collect the frozen robot. Viceroy raised an eyebrow.

"I said undefeatable. And from all my previous research it was. I looked at the security tapes. The ninja did not defeat my robot. I fear there was a bug I missed and it malfunctioned. That's all. I'll get it back here and fix it in no time. We can send it back out tomorrow," Viceroy explained. McFist blinked.

"The ninja didn't defeat it?" he repeated incredulously. Viceroy smirked smugly.

"No. He didn't. Nothing the ninja did affected my robot. I'll show you," Viceroy confirmed and pulled out his specially made tablet.

A holographic video of the robot fight earlier was projected above the device. McFist watched as the ninja ran into the screen and attempted to cut through the impenetrable steel with his katanna. McFist grinned cruelly as he saw the ninja foolishly nurse his hand, dropping his weapon. As the ninja struggled to fight the massive robot, each attempt being a failure, McFist's foul mood faded. The robot slumped as it shut down and they watched the ninja disappear in a smoke cloud.

"You see. The robot failed but not because of anything the ninja did. The ninja did not defeat my robot. So personally, my claim that the ninja cannot defeat this robot stands," Viceroy gloated with a smile, slipping the tablet back into his lab coat pocket. McFist frowned in thought.

"We'll hold off for now on sending the robot out. I want to get rid of those kids first. Send it out on Monday. The bus is meant to be at the school by ten. Send it at lunchtime," McFist decided. Viceroy nodded.

"Of course sir. Good idea. Can't have those Casper High students spreading bad press about Norrisville or McFist Industries. If I may though, perhaps you could take the opportunity to advertise our products to the children on a tour this Sunday. It might help prevent rumours," Viceroy suggested thoughtfully. McFist blinked before grinning.

"That's a great idea, glad I thought of it," he agreed, missing Viceroy's eye roll.

Meanwhile a woman stepped into town with her trusted assistant. She breathed in a deep sigh of air.

"I have high hopes for this place," she muttered.

"Good. Let's find the school then," the short man suggested with a grin. The woman giggled lightly and nodded in agreement. Together they walked down the street, taking in the sights causally as they looked for the local high school. After thirty minutes a large white angular building came into view. Both newcomers frowned at the sight. The lawn was shredded and half the building was reduced to rubble. A massive robot stood, slumped and frozen, outside in the middle of the destruction. A car wreck was parked in the car park nearby, a space reserved for Principal Slimovitz.

"What a dump," the woman mumbled unimpressed.

"Spectra, did you read that banner over the stage?" the man whispered fearfully.

The red head woman scowled and turned to the previously dismissed stage before growling angrily in her throat.

"Phantom could be here. Maybe we should skip town," the man recommended nervously.

"No. I want some revenge on Danny. He does not get to turn me into some monster from the inside of a nose and get away with it. I missed my chance last time I was in Amity Park," Spectra retorted firmly.

"But Spectra-" the man protested.

"No Bertrand. I'm not running away from that freak," Spectra snarled.

"He has a ghost sense remember. He might already know we're here," Bertrand reminded worriedly. Spectra glanced at her assistant.

"I've already figured out a way around that Bertrand. Kitty got close to Phantom once. He didn't even know she was in town. Actually protected her from Johnny when they were having one of their arguments. All we have to do is find someone to overshadow," Spectra revealed with a devious grin. Bertrand blinked before smirking.

"I'm going to enjoy this," Spectra added eagerly.

 **And the stage is set.**

 **Any guesses who's going to get overshadowed?**

 **Any ideas on what Spectra's revenge might be?**

 **Let me know what you guys think of the story so far.**

 **Until the next chapter.**


	4. Chapter 4

Danny, Tucker and Sam walked behind the group of their classmates. The housing estate they would be staying at was only a fifteen minute walk away from the school. Mr Lancer followed a robo-ape to the houses under construction.

"Mr McFist has stopped construction for the duration of your stay. But do not go into unfinished buildings for your own safety," the robo-ape informed the group as they walked, interrupting it's commentary on their surroundings, pointing out locations of note.

"Can't that thing walk a bit faster? I have a lesson to get to," Tucker growled impatiently.

"Tuck chill. Those two will understand why we're late. And since when are you hung up on class?" Danny reassured his friend.

"Since I became the teacher," Tucker retorted sharply. Sam and Danny shared an amused smirk as Tucker resumed his dark glare at the robo-ape's back.

"I could hack into it," Tucker suggested to himself.

"No Tucker. That's asking for trouble," Sam interjected firmly. Tucker huffed in annoyance.

Before long the students, Mr Lancer and the robo-ape arrived at the construction site. The robot led the way to a row of finished houses. There were a couple of vans parked outside with a number of robo-apes unloading single mattresses and flat-pack bed frames. The robo-ape guide turned to the students.

"These houses haven't been fully furnished yet but the building, electronics and plumbing has been completed. The kitchens are fitted as well as bathrooms. But there aren't any other furnishings. Mr McFist provided beds, which we robo-apes are setting up for you, and dining tables and chairs. I have discount cards for a few of the attractions available in Norrisville, compliments of McFist Industries. Each house will have a robo-ape who you can inform of any issues. Meals will be delivered to the houses at eight in the morning, one in the afternoon and seven at night. Any questions?" the robo-ape explained.

"How do we know which houses we're allowed in?" one of the cheerleaders called. The robo-ape nodded.

"Number one, two and three are completed and currently being repurposed for your use. Sleeping arrangements will be organised by your teacher," the robo-ape answered easily. Mr Lancer smiled.

"Alright then. Do you mind if I start dividing them up now?" Lancer inquired. The robot shook its head. Lancer turned to the students and counted them.

"Girls on the left, boys on the right please," Lancer ordered. Sam glanced at Danny and Tucker before obediently walking to the right, making sure to stand as far away as possible from Paulina. Danny and Tucker backed up a few steps and joined the boys, standing beside the mascot and team substitutes. Lancer counted the girls first and then counted the boys.

"How many beds are in each house?" Lancer asked the robot.

"We can move beds to accommodate you. Right now there are fifteen in each," the robo-ape told the teacher. Lancer smiled.

"Wonderful, girls can go in one house together and I can split the boys between the other two. The team and myself can take one and the rest can take the other. So sixteen beds and fourteen if that's alright," Lancer decided. The robo-ape nodded and shuffled over to its fellow robots to relay the order to move one bed to a different house. Tucker and Danny flashed each other relieved grins. Dash and most of the other bullies were on the team which meant that they wouldn't be bothered. And Lancer was bunking with the team, probably to make sure the team didn't get into trouble. Sam wasn't as happy but as long as she got a different room to Paulina then she'd be happy.

Over the course of the next twenty minutes, the students claimed their beds, Sam ending up in a room with Ashley, Valerie and two of the less annoying cheerleaders. While Danny and Tucker got beds in a room together with the team mascot and another classmate. Once the beds were claimed, discount cards and keys were handed out, the students were allowed to leave. Although Lancer imposed a curfew of ten that night and everyone had to come back for dinner at seven as well. Tucker rushed back to the school, Danny and Sam walked calmly behind the excited and impatient techno-geek. They arrived back at the school. The massive robot had been removed and the rubble had been cleared, the remnants of the destroyed wing were taped off with yellow caution tape.

Outside the school stood the red head boy, Howard. He turned to the trio and huffed impatiently.

"Finally! Where have you been?" he grumbled.

"Not our fault it took so long for Lancer to dismiss us. Where's the ninja?" Sam retorted stiffly. Howard flinched.

"Oh right. Sorry. Forgot that you guys had to sort that stuff out. Ninja's inside. He doesn't want everyone to see him," Howard replied.

"I get it. Doesn't want people going after him," Danny remarked, thinking that the locals would be angry at the ninja for letting the school get wrecked. Howard nodded.

"Something like that, yeah," Howard confirmed.

Howard motioned for the trio to follow him and led them to the computer lab. He tried the door before frowning.

"It's locked," he muttered.

"Probably for security over the weekend. Computers are pretty valuable," Danny commented. Sam nodded before kneeling down and pulling a hairpin out of her ponytail.

"What's she doing?" Howard asked.

"Picking the lock," Tucker answered, leaning casually beside the door.

"You'd think the ninja would have already done this for us though," Sam grumbled as she fiddled with the lock, frowning in concentration.

"I don't know how to pick locks. I went to look for the key," a voice behind them admitted. Danny glanced over and saw the Norrisville Ninja standing there, holding a redundant key.

"A ninja that can't pick a lock?" Danny pointed out with a raised eyebrow.

"Hey! I have a sword, not lock picking tools," the ninja exclaimed defensively.

"Those sai things would probably work," Sam interjected as she worked. The ninja fell silent, staring at the girl in surprise. He pulled out a three pronged dagger-like weapon.

"Really?" he muttered curiously. Sam grinned as the lock clicked and she pushed down the handle. The door swung open and she returned the hairpin to her ponytail. She turned to the ninja and surveyed the sai before nodding.

"Yep, that looks good, might be a bit tricky as it's so long but should work," Sam confirmed.

"Would you teach me?" the ninja requested hopefully. Sam blinked before shrugging.

"Alright. But it doesn't work on all doors. Only doors with simple locks. Anything sophisticated and without proper equipment, you're not getting through," Sam agreed, seeing no harm in teaching the ninja to pick a lock.

Tucker darted into the computer lab and examined the computers eagerly before switching on three and gesturing for his two students to sit down.

"I could teach you two some hacking," Tucker offered, looking over his shoulder at his friends.

"Pass," Sam and Danny declined the offer in unison.

"I don't need to hack to get into files," Danny pointed out calmly, referencing his ghost powers and ability to overshadow technology and enter the software.

"And tech's your thing Tucker. Mine's Goth and activist," Sam agreed. Danny and Sam dropped into some seats together. Tucker started his lesson happily, slipping into the usual hacker jargon and moving far too quickly for either Howard or the ninja to keep up.

Danny and Sam turned on their own computer and Danny checked up on Amity Park, knowing that any big ghost attacks would be online somewhere but thankfully there were none. Sam rolled her eyes at Danny but said nothing. They then started to research Norrisville. If they were going to spend a weekend in the town, they might as well know a bit about the place. They read a tour guide and noticed a paragraph dedicated to the Norrisville Ninja. Danny blinked as he saw how far back the ninja could be traced back.

"Hey, ninja… how old are you?" Danny asked curiously. He knew the ninja wasn't a ghost. His ghost sense would have gone off and the ninja was obviously a living person.

"Fourte- I mean over eight hundred. Why?" the ninja answered as he scowled at the computer screen in confusion.

"How are you so old? I know you're not a ghost. Are you immortal or something?" Danny inquired, noticing but not commenting on the near-slip. Ninja glanced over his shoulder.

"You thought I was a ghost?" he remarked.

"No. I can see you're not one. But that doesn't explain how you're still around. No offense but you should be dead or at least really old," Danny pointed out. The ninja shrugged.

"Trade secret," the ninja retorted. Danny raised an eyebrow but didn't push any further. He knew the ninja was already lying. The ninja had almost admitted to being fourteen.

"Danny's parents are ghost hunters. Our town is one of the most haunted places in America. Ghosts are commonplace for us," Sam interjected. Danny glanced at her, wondering why she was bringing that up. She saw him looking at her and smirked.

"You sounded too knowledgeable. Just covering you a bit," she whispered as an explanation. Danny nodded in understanding.

"Ghosts? They don't exist," Howard remarked with a snort. Tucker, Sam and Danny scowled at the oblivious teen.

"That's what we thought until one attacked our school," Tucker retorted. Howard blinked and saw the scowls he was getting. He flushed nervously.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to insult you guys or something," Howard mumbled.

 **So a few hints from both heroes on their identities. Do you think they'll learn each other's secrets?**

 **Let me know what you guys think of the story so far.**

 **Until the next chapter.**


	5. Chapter 5

Two hours later, Tucker called the end of his lesson and they locked the computer lab up and the ninja returned the key to the head office. Sam then taught the ninja how to pick a lock. Within fifteen minutes, the ninja had learnt the skill. The ninja thanked Sam happily before leaving. Howard pulled out his phone and texted someone.

"Want to go to Greg's Game Hole with me? I'm meeting up with my friend there," Howard offered.

"What is Greg's Game Hole?" Tucker wondered.

"It's just the brucest place in Norrisville. It has a bunch of games and sells food. Come on. I'll show you. How good are you at games by the way? Because my friend is bruce at them and is constantly getting better scores than me," Howard replied.

"We're alright. Is there Doomed?" Danny asked with a smirk.

"No. But there is Grave Puncher, the arcade version," Howard answered. Danny and Tucker shrugged. Neither had heard of the game but they were willing to try it out.

"Lead the way Howard," Sam prompted.

It didn't take long for the four teens to arrive at the small, unassuming building. Inside was packed with teens, either playing on games lining the walls or sitting in the back eating.

"Wow, this place looks great," Tucker muttered with a low whistle.

"It is! And the burgers here are the cheese," Howard confirmed happily. The trio blinked at the slang before shrugging it off, taking context into consideration.

"So, what's your friend called?" Sam inquired.

"Randy Cunningham," Howard answered, eyeing a game nearby with a short queue.

"Howard!" a boy called over the clamour of the teens. The four teens turned to see a tall, slim teen with unusual purple hair and blue eyes making his way over to them.

"Hey Cunningham," Howard greeted his friend.

"I'm Randy," the boy introduced himself, holding out a hand to Danny.

"Danny Fenton," Danny returned, shaking Randy's hand politely.

"Sam Manson," Sam offered.

"Tucker Foley," Tucker concluded.

"And I'm hungry. Got any cash?" Howard interjected hopefully. Randy sighed and pulled out a couple of notes.

"Get me some fries Howard. Don't eat them," Randy requested as the red head disappeared off. Randy shook his head at his friend.

"We hear you're a gamer," Tucker remarked. Randy nodded.

"I've got most of the high scores in this place. Do you guys play?" Randy confirmed.

"We mostly play Doomed," Danny admitted.

"But Howard mentioned something about punching graves," Sam recalled.

"Grave Puncher? You won't get anywhere near that game right now. It's really popular. But there's a couple of decent games around that won't be too hard to get on," Randy informed them.

Howard returned with half a portion of fries and chewing on his burger. Randy snatched the fries away from Howard with a scowl.

"Those are mine," he complained.

"I paid for them," Howard pointed out with a frown.

"With my money," Randy reminded the shorter boy and started to eat the fries.

"Do you guys want anything? I don't have enough money to pay for you three as well as Howard," Randy asked.

"I'll get it. Do you know if they sell any vegan food here?" Sam retorted. Randy and Howard blinked at her. Sam rolled her eyes.

"I'll check," she grumbled before disappearing off to the back of the building.

"She'd better not get me some of that vegetable garbage," Tucker muttered with a scowl. Danny chuckled.

Danny glanced at Howard and Randy, noticing that both looked confused.

"Sam's an ultra-recyclo vegetarian and Tuck's a meat connoisseur. Don't get them started about which is better. They can argue for hours," Danny explained for them. Randy and Howard nodded slowly in understanding. Sam returned with a portion of fries for Danny, a cheeseburger for Tucker, given with a disgusted scowl, and a salad for herself.

"You know, they only have one salad and it had bacon and chicken in it. I had to ask for it to be left out," Sam informed them with a frown. Tucker took a big bite out of his burger to avoid remarking.

"Well, they did leave it out, so no harm done right?" Danny offered as he started on his own fries. Sam sighed before nodding.

"I'm still going to suggest they add another vegan option for their menu," Sam decided.

"Sam, remember the last time you tried to change the menu," Tucker interjected, spraying crumbs as he spoke. Sam glowered at him.

"That was different. I'm not getting the whole menu changed, just suggesting an addition," Sam growled.

"What happened when she changed the menu?" Randy inquired curiously, not noticing Howard finish his burger and steal a few fries from his friend.

"We live in Amity Park. It's really haunted. But when Sam tried to change the school menu a ghost, called the Lunch Lady, attacked us," Tucker answered.

"What happened then?" Randy wondered out loud, turning to Danny. The halfa blinked in surprise.

"We got away and the ghost got dealt with," he replied vaguely. Danny watched Randy as he nodded and turned back to his fries, it was almost like Randy knew Danny knew what happened to the ghost specifically. Danny examined the teen a little closer, feigning checking a game behind them. He was about the ninja's height and sounded a little like the ninja. It was hard to tell seeing as the ninja's voice was distorted a little by his mask. Randy's eyes did look a little familiar though.

"Cunningham, quarter me," Howard ordered as he grinned in anticipation at a game nearby with no one playing it. Randy scowled.

"What happened to your allowance?" Randy inquired but pulled a fistful of quarters out of his pocket regardless.

"McFizzles and yesterday's gaming," Howard answered with a shrug before scampering off to start playing.

"Does he always sponge off you?" Tucker asked.

"Sponge is a strong word… but yeah. He doesn't mean to be rude though. It's just the way he is," Randy admitted. Tucker nodded slowly before crumpling his burger packet and offered to take everyone's wrappers to the nearest trashcan.

"Any games you recommend?" Danny wondered. Randy held his chin as he surveyed the room.

"A bit of a wait but that game is pretty good. It's better to play against someone though. Those two aren't as good but they're alright," Randy suggested, pointing to three different games with teens crowded around them.

"Since there's four of us, why don't you and me go for that game? I like the look of it. That okay with you?" Danny offered, he wanted to spend a little more time with Randy and try to figure out if the teen truly was the Norrisville ninja. Randy grinned and joined the queue. Sam grabbed Danny's arm before he could follow.

"I think Randy's the ninja. I just want to confirm either way," Danny whispered in explanation. Sam blinked in surprise but nodded in understanding and handed the halfa some change.

"Good idea," she muttered and left before Danny could protest, he didn't want her money, but then again he was broke as his parents had stopped his allowance as punishment for missing curfew a few months ago. The curfew was considered a lost cause now and his parents had abandoned enforcing it but Danny did notice the disappointed frowns whenever he came home late.

Danny stood beside Randy. The game was based on the Norrisville Ninja. Danny blinked in surprise as he watched other gamers play. It was a two player fighter game. One side played the ninja. While the other played the ninja's opponent. There were ten levels. The first three were single monsters of varying difficulty. The next three were robots and the last four were a mixture of the two. The ninja started with only his sword but as the game progressed, the ninja acquired other weapons. Danny noticed that Randy watched how players played the ninja, giving slight shakes of his head of disapproval or smirks of approval. Danny raised an eyebrow. Either Randy played this game a lot and was a pro, or he was the ninja and knew how to fight these beings from personal experience.

After thirty minutes of waiting and quiet observation, it was Randy and Danny's go. Randy happily claimed the ninja's controls and Danny took the opponent's. Randy was a good gamer. That much was obvious. He had fast reflexes and he knew the controls well, causing Danny to lose the first two rounds as he learnt how to play the game. But once he adjusted himself to the controls, he started to get a lot better. In fact, the next three rounds, Danny won. Randy glanced at Danny in surprise, who smirked in response.

"Just because I'm most familiar with Doomed, doesn't mean I can't play other games well," he remarked. Randy smirked, accepting the challenge and they battled for the title. Danny applied his own battle experience into the game, and he noticed that Randy was able to counteract most of his moves. Danny wasn't playing a video game anymore, he was testing his theory and Randy was proving it right. Randy knew his way around the ninja's weapons well and Danny even caught Randy whispering to himself what weapons he was using, just like the ninja would.

Their battle gained a lot of attention and a crowd gathered to watch them. Randy defeated Danny on level ten and whooped.

"Hold on. Tie breaker?" Danny called to the teen. Randy turned and gaped. Both teens had managed to win five rounds each. The tie breaker was two massive robots. Danny smirked and took his controls again as Randy lunged at his own expecting Danny to take advantage of the opportunity to get in a few hits but the halfa didn't. It wasn't Danny's style to take a few cheap shots like that. The last level went on for a further ten minutes as Danny skilfully fought Randy's ninja. It was close but Danny won the level, making a new high score. Randy's jaw dropped.

"How did you do that!?" Randy exclaimed, gesturing at the complex move Danny had done to win the round. Danny chuckled as he put in his name.

"Lots of practice on other games. Great game though Randy. I had fun," Danny replied, shaking the teen's sweaty hand and pulled the teen forward to whisper in his ear.

"Honour to fight you ninja," he breathed in his ear before slipping out of the cheering crowd. Randy stared after Danny in shock before chasing after him.

 **Well, that secret lasted a long time. Lol. In fairness though, Danny had met and spoken with the ninja a couple of times and just connected dots because he knew what to look for.**

 **But will Randy learn Danny's secret?**

 **Let me know what you guys think of the story so far.**

 **There was a request the other day about doing a 3-way crossover. I haven't ignored you. It is actually a high-demand request. If you check out my website, link in my bio, then you can see other requests I have had and whether they've been accepted or not. I get so many I needed a way to keep track myself lol.**

 **Until the next chapter.**


	6. Chapter 6

Danny knew! He knew that Randy was the ninja. It took everything in Randy's being not to full out panic. Danny had already joined his friends, Sam and Tucker who were playing a two player game across the room. Randy scanned Greg's Game Hole worriedly and spotted Howard. His friend was hogging a game to himself with about five other people waiting, muttering soft complaints. Randy ran to his friend's side.

"Howard. Howard, I've gotta talk to you. Right now!" Randy told his friend urgently. Howard spared Randy a glance.

"Not right now Cunningham. I'm going to beat my best score," Howard retorted dismissively, punching the buttons with unnecessary force.

"Howard. This is urgent. It's N.N. business," Randy hissed.

"Go then. You don't usually stop to tell me when you need to N.N. up," Howard replied, knowing that Randy meant the Norrisville Ninja. Both friends used abbreviations regularly to reference Randy's ninja business.

"No Howard. I don't need to N.N. up. I need to tell you something and I need your help. Danny knows," Randy corrected softly. Howard faltered and groaned as his character died on the game screen.

"Fine. But you owe me a lot of quarters," Howard grumbled.

"Those _were_ my quarters," Randy reminded the short red head before pulling his friend to the bathroom.

Randy quickly ducked down to check that the bathroom stalls were empty before turning to Howard.

"Alright Cunningham. What do you mean by Danny knows?" Howard prompted.

"He knows! He honking knows I'm the Norrisville Ninja!" Randy exclaimed fearfully, struggling to keep his voice down.

"What makes you think that?" Howard pressed, folding his arms.

"After he beat me on that ninja game he said it was an honour to fight me. His exact words were "honour to fight you ninja"! He knows!" Randy explained, starting to hyperventilate and panic.

"Cunningham. Were you playing as the ninja?" Howard interjected loudly. Randy paused before nodding.

"Then he was joking. Chill out. There's no way he could know and if he does, you just have to… I don't know ninja up and threaten him with some kind of curse to stop him telling everyone," Howard reasoned.

"Howard, you weren't there. The way he said it. He knows. And I don't know if the ninja should go around threatening and cursing people," Randy replied.

The door opened and Howard and Randy turned to the door fearful of eavesdroppers. It was Danny and Tucker, Sam was visible waiting outside.

"There you two are. We have to go and get some stuff for our stay here, like toothbrushes and stuff," Danny informed them calmly. Howard nodded.

"Sure. That's fine. We can meet up tomorrow," Howard suggested.

"You mean we will. You wanted me to teach you to hack right?" Tucker interjected. Howard shuddered. Learning to hack wasn't nearly as fun or easy as he had suspected. In fact it was almost harder than his school work. Howard nodded reluctantly. Danny watched Randy as the teen stared fearfully at him.

"Randy, can I have a word?" Danny requested. Randy blanched.

"Anything you say to Cunningham, you can say to me," Howard retorted firmly. Danny blinked and glanced at Tucker.

"I think this should stay between myself and Randy, Howard, no offense," Danny replied carefully, watching Randy carefully. Randy blinked in shock. Danny was trying to talk to Randy without telling Howard why. He wasn't blurting out his secret!

"Howard's right. Anything you want to say to me, you can say in front of him," Randy confirmed nervously. Danny nodded.

"I didn't mean to freak you out back there. But I thought I should let you know that your secret wasn't as secret as you thought. You don't have to be scared. I'm not going to tell anyone. Well I've told Sam and Tucker but they'll stay quiet too," Danny reassured them. Howard glanced between Randy and Danny. Randy was trembling slightly and was completely white. Danny on the other hand was calm.

"Look, I don't know what you're talking about but Randy has no secrets," Howard lied.

"Not a very convincing lie Howard considering we're in the bathroom and Randy looks like he's having a panic attack," Tucker pointed out.

"Look, if it makes you two feel better. Tucker's hacking is illegal. You have something on us if we tell anyone else. Sam can pick locks too, that can't be legal either," Danny offered.

"We'll see you outside the school at eleven tomorrow, that okay?" Tucker concluded as they turned to leave.

"Wait! Why aren't you telling everyone I'm the ninja?" Randy blurted out. Danny glanced over his shoulder and shrugged.

"Not my secret to tell. And you obviously have the secret for a reason," Danny answered before opening the door and slipping out to go shopping with Sam and Tucker.

Randy stared at the door, gobsmacked.

"Earth to Cunningham! Snap out of it," Howard called, waving a hand in front of Randy's face. Randy blinked and turned to Howard.

"See nothing to be worried about," Howard remarked with a nervous smirk.

"Why is Danny being so nice? He doesn't have to keep my secret. We only met today," Randy mumbled to himself. Howard rolled his eyes.

"Who cares? He's not gonna tell anyone. Can we go back to playing games instead of doing homework now?" Howard retorted. Randy nodded slowly and followed his best friend out of the bathroom.

The next day Randy and Howard walked to the school.

"This is wonk! It's the weekend! Why are we going to school?" Howard complained.

"Getting Tucker to teach us how to hack was your idea Howard, remember?" Randy recalled. Howard scowled.

"I blame you for this Cunningham," he grumbled. Randy stopped in his tracks and gaped at Howard.

"Whaaat!? How is this my fault!? It was your idea! All I did was agree!" Randy retorted in shock. Howard turned to his friend, folding his arms and nodded sagely.

"Exactly. You agreed. You know I don't do anything without you agreeing to do it with me. So this is your fault," Howard reasoned. Randy shook his head and resumed walking. Howard smirked, knowing he won the argument, catching up to Randy easily.

"Do you think that Danny kept his word?" Randy mumbled worriedly.

"On what?" Howard prompted.

"Keeping my secret Howard. Do you think he told anyone?" Randy clarified with a worried frown. Howard shrugged.

"Like Danny said. If he told anyone then we can tell people that Tucker can hack into killer robots," Howard pointed out. Randy scowled at his friend.

"Howard, two wrongs don't make a right," Randy scolded.

"Is that the nomicon's teaching for today?" Howard wondered. Randy blinked before shaking his head.

"No! It means just because someone does something wrong to us, it doesn't mean we can do something wrong to get back at them. Everyone knows that saying Howard," Randy corrected. Howard shrugged, hopping up the steps to the school and trying the door. He frowned when he found it locked.

"Huh? How are we gonna get in?" Howard complained. Randy scanned the area before pulling out his ninja mask.

"I could try and pick the lock," Randy suggested softly. Howard grinned and nodded in agreement.

"Randy! Howard! This way. That lock has an alarm. We picked a side door instead," Tucker called to them cheerily, jogging around the building to them. Randy quickly hid the mask behind his back.

"Randy, I know you're the ninja remember. You don't need to hide that mask from me," Tucker remarked with a smirk. Randy blushed as he shoved the mask into his jacket pocket.

"Habit," Randy offered softly. Tucker chuckled and led the way around to the unlocked side door.

"Are Sam and Danny here?" Howard asked curiously.

"Yeah. They're in the computer lab already," Tucker confirmed.

"Good. Because I want to ask Danny how he beat Randy at his own game. Literally!" Howard commented with a grin. Tucker chuckled.

"I doubt he'll tell you. If you two want we can have a gaming session after this. Sam is like the queen of Doomed, but I personally think it's only because she knows a ton of cheat codes," Tucker replied. Howard pouted disappointedly.

"How did he figure it out anyway?" Randy inquired nervously.

"Figure out what? The game? Danny's always been pretty good at thinking on his feet," Tucker answered.

"No. My… my secret," Randy half-whispered. Tucker pushed open the door to the computer lab and shrugged.

"Danny, Randy wants to know how you figure him out," Tucker called to the teen who was scowling at a computer screen.

"Just a minute Tuck," Danny replied distractedly. Sam rolled her eyes.

"Danny relax. That was last night," Sam reassured him.

"I know. But I still worry. I've almost finished it," Danny muttered. A few seconds later he breathed a sigh of relief and turned to Randy.

"The game confirmed it for me. But I had my suspicions before that. You looked to me when we started talking about the Lunch Lady and I thought I recognised your eyes. But I was watching you watch other players and you seemed really knowledgeable on how they should play the game. When we were playing, you were whispering what you were doing like you normally do in a fight. That and personally, you were too good at the game. Everything together just proved my theory, that and you practically running away to have a panic attack when I called you the ninja," Danny explained. Randy blinked in surprise.

"If you had laughed off being called the ninja and laid low for the next few days, I might have started to doubt myself," Danny added as an afterthought, turning back to his computer screen and started reading something else.

"Oh," Randy breathed. Tucker smirked and instructed his students to take a seat at the prepared computers to start a new lesson on how to hack.

 **So Randy accepting that a few more people know his secret and getting over his freak out over it.**

 **Let me know what you guys think of the story so far.**

 **Until the next chapter.**


	7. Chapter 7

Hours later, the five teens were making their way to Randy's house to play Grave Puncher. The game was obviously very popular in Norrisville. Danny sped up to walk beside Randy and Howard who were in the lead.

"You know, if you want to quit hacking lessons, Tucker won't get angry. Hacking isn't for everyone," Danny muttered. The two teens had looked completely confused and overwhelmed throughout their lesson with Tucker. Howard smiled.

"Really? Because learning to hack is hard work," Howard admitted with clear relief.

"Thanks Danny but I feel that as the ninja I should learn this. Howard mentioned that if I learnt how to hack then I could beat robots before they're even sent. He's right," Randy mumbled thoughtfully, but disappointed all the same. Danny raised an eyebrow.

"You know who's sending those robots? Why don't you stop them?" Danny wondered surprised.

"Because the guy has a golden reputation and I'd do more harm than good by revealing him. As for stopping him by myself, I don't know how I can," Randy explained. Danny blinked before nodding. Sounded like Vlad.

"I know the type. Say no more. But if you'd like we could try to help?" Danny offered. Randy shook his head.

"The robots are the ninja's problem. Not yours but thanks for the offer," Randy replied with a grateful smirk. They arrived at Randy's house soon after and spent the rest of the day playing video games, working out a tournament where everyone played against everyone at least once.

The next day, Tucker had to forego his hacking lesson as the Casper High students were invited on a tour of McFist Industries. Although, Tucker was happy to get a better look inside the futuristic and high-tech pyramid. The same could not be said for the rest. Tucker was the only one interested in the tour and the others found it quite dull. There were a few interesting demonstrations and a gift bag of free samples of various items, McFizzles sweets, McFist hoodie, McFist high-tech watches and the like. Due to the length of the tour, the students returned to their temporary lodgings afterwards and spent the evening there, preparing to leave the next day.

The next morning, the students all crowded to Norrisville High and were bundled into the assembly hall to wait for the bus to arrive. Danny, Sam and Tucker had met up with Randy and Howard that morning and said their goodbyes. Danny was on Tucker's PDA checking for news from Amity Park.

"Danny, we're heading back today, if the bus ever gets here. Calm down and relax," Sam implored with an impatient huff. Danny nodded distractedly but made no move to obey her. Tucker sighed with boredom.

"Danny, are you gonna be much longer? I need entertainment," Tucker complained. Sam scowled at the techno-geek.

"Alright, here Tuck. No news anyway," Danny relented and handed the PDA to Tucker.

Tucker happily took his PDA, instantly opening up a simple game to chase away his boredom. Sam checked the time and huffed impatiently.

"The bus was meant to be here an hour ago! What's taking it so long?" Sam grumbled.

"There was a big traffic accident this morning just outside Norrisville," Danny told her. Sam blinked.

"What? I was checking the news anyway and I was wondering myself," Danny retorted with a shrug. Sam smirked.

"Alright. I hope the bus gets here soon though. I don't mind staying here longer but this pointless waiting is terrible," Sam commented hopefully. Tucker exited out of his game and checked for news on the traffic accident.

"Woah. That was a massive accident. Ten car pile-up. How is it no one died?!" Tucker gasped. Danny nodded.

"I'm glad that no one died but there were a few serious injuries. There's a couple of people in critical conditions in the hospital though. They reckon that the first driver in the crash was drunk or something because it just suddenly swerved across the road and everyone couldn't stop in time. It could have been worse. A truck stopped before it collided with those cars," Danny told them having read the article himself.

"The bus could take a while to get here. The road's closed and the only other way into Norrisville is a long way out of the way. The bus will have to go around the lake to get here," Tucker mused.

The three friends returned to trying to fill the boring wait with small talk, a few car-trip games like "I spy" and watching videos on Tucker's PDA. An hour later and Lancer relented in the wait to take his students to the cafeteria to get some lunch. Danny, Sam and Tucker took their trays of food to a table.

"This is getting ridiculous. They can't expect us to just wait in the auditorium all day for the bus," Sam grumbled.

"They might figure something out for us to do after lunch. Besides the bus can't be too far away now," Tucker reasoned.

"Danny? Sam, Tucker? I thought you guys left already," Randy called to them in surprise, dropping into a seat at the table with his lunch.

"We were meant to. But there was a big traffic accident and our bus is delayed," Danny confirmed with a bored sigh. Howard joined them moments later, shovelling food into his mouth hungrily.

"That's wonk," Randy sympathised. The trio nodded in agreement, slowly getting used to the slang used in Norrisville.

A few minutes later, the earth shook. Danny and Randy froze.

"Randy, we'll cover for you," Sam whispered realising that there was trouble coming. Randy nodded and shoved his bag into Howard's lap.

"Do not lose Howard," Randy hissed quietly before rushing to the bathroom. Howard watched his friend leave before he swiped a handful of fries off Randy's tray and stood up.

"Coming?" he asked the trio as he pulled out his phone to record the coming fight. The trio shrugged and followed Howard outside, a few of the Norrisville students were making their way outside also.

"Ninja cold balls!" the ninja exclaimed loudly and a loud crash was heard. Danny's eyes widened as they exited the school and saw the robot from Friday beating up the ninja. A car had been wrecked in the car park nearby, the one in Principal Slimovitz' parking spot. The ninja flipped away from the robot and used his red scarf to swing to a safer distance. He pulled out his phone and started to desperately tap on it, trying to hack into the robot. Danny gasped as the ninja was thrown into the school, hitting a wall with devastating force.

"Tuck, I think we need a more experienced hacker to take over," Danny whispered worriedly. Tucker grabbed his PDA and hacked into the robot within minutes. The ninja scrambled to his feet, scooping up his phone and resumed his failed attempt to hack into the robot. A bus pulled around the corner the exact moment the robot grabbed the destroyed car and threw it at the ninja. The ninja dodged but the car sailed by and crashed into the bus, pushing it on to its side and the engine started to smoke. The ninja sprinted to the bus and got the driver to safety as the severed fuel line caught fire and exploded. Suddenly the robot slumped as Tucker shut it down.

The road was silent and Danny held his breath waiting for the crowd to shout angrily at the ninja and attack him. But instead, the crowd erupted in cheers and applause, many shouting praise for the ninja saving them and stopping the robot. Danny's jaw dropped. The ninja had caused not one but two vehicles to be destroyed, damaged the school building, endangered their lives and they… they were cheering. If he had been in Randy's place, the least that would happen would have been insults and rocks thrown at him by the adults and maybe a few cheers from the students. That was best case scenario. What normally happened was getting shot at by at least one ghost hunter if not the cops shouting abuse at him. Sam and Tucker glanced worriedly at the halfa. They were equally surprised by the acceptance of the ninja but they were also concerned about how Danny would take this.

The first coherent thought that flashed through Danny's mind was that it wasn't fair. He made a conscious effort to prevent damages, taking fights into the sky away from spectators and buildings. He gave up everything. Sleep, meals, his grades. He had half died! And yet… he protects them and gets insulted, chased, hunted. Randy didn't seem to even try to stop the damages happening. His sole focus was protecting everyone and stopping the robot. It wasn't fair! What more did he have to do to be accepted? To be hailed as the hero he truly was? He didn't even want the praise and glory. He just wanted this. Cheers and not to be chased away after saving the day. Danny forced his eyes shut and shoved down those thoughts. He was a ghost. Ghosts were feared and hated. He had to just get over it and accept that sad truth. Randy was human. It was different. Life wasn't fair, especially when you were seen as being dead.

 **So Danny's understandably upset to learn that Randy does get attacked for his heroic efforts and clearly has some green eyes and not the ghostly kind.**

 **Any ideas how that car crash happened? Hint, it wasn't a coincidence.**

 **Let me know what you guys think of the story so far.**

 **Make sure to check out my website. I have a poll running for you guys to vote for what I post next on fanfic. There's a few options and the winner will start as soon as this one ends. It's only open for a few days so don't miss out!**

 **Until the next chapter.**


	8. Chapter 8

"That was the bus for Casper High," a teacher muttered, bringing Danny out of his despairing thoughts. He glanced at the wrecked bus and sighed. No way was another bus going to be sent today. They'd be staying in Norrisville another night it seemed.

"That was a lot more destructive than normal," Howard commented with a shrug. Danny flinched at the remark. More damage than normal and the ninja was still seen as the hero. The ninja had disappeared in a smoke bomb a minute after the fight ended, drinking in the praise before he left. Randy pushed himself through the crowd and took his bag from Howard.

"Thanks for helping me Tucker. I don't know where I went wrong. I thought I was in the robot but I think I was just ordering tacos," Randy muttered, blushing in embarrassment.

"Well, we're staying another day so I can teach you a bit more about hacking," Tucker offered.

"That would be bruce," Randy accepted gratefully.

Tucker and Randy started talking about what the ninja did on his phone to hack into the robot and Howard watched the video he filmed of the ninja's fight, checking the quality and angles. Sam made her way over to Danny and put a reassuring hand on his arm.

"Danny, are you alright?" she whispered. Danny nodded sadly.

"Yeah. I'm fine. I just have to understand that I'll never be accepted back home because I'm a ghost," Danny mumbled despondently.

"That's not true Danny. You have eighty percent approval ratings. Plenty of people see you as a hero and five percent of the rest don't see you as evil," Sam reminded him. Danny sighed.

"Thanks Sam," he muttered, trying to hide his hurt feelings from her. Sam offered him a warm smile.

"Come on, if we hurry we might be able to get second helpings in the cafeteria before class," Howard suggested.

The group slowly made their way through the students to go back to the cafeteria. Danny glanced at Randy and pushed down his envy.

"Randy, are you okay? You hit that wall pretty hard," Danny asked. Randy nodded.

"As long as the suit is intact, it protects me. Still hurts but it's dialled down like a thousand percent. Most I'll get is a bruise, if that," Randy admitted. Another flash of envy and an almost overwhelming sense of injustice rushed through Danny. He got hurt fighting ghosts. Like really hurt. Especially early on. That throw would have definitely bruised Danny if not broken bones. Luckily his ghost half healed fast, not fast enough to be considered regenerative, but fast enough to prevent him needing professional help as long as he got a little first aid. Danny winced inwardly at the recent memory of when he broke his ankle and Sam and Tucker had been forced to reset it before letting it heal.

"That's good," Danny managed.

"Good? It's the cheese! He gets thrown around and hit and punched and he doesn't get hurt! It's so bruce to watch," Howard exclaimed enthusiastically. Sam and Tucker shared a concerned glance. They all knew that Howard meant no harm by bragging about his friend's abilities, but they could both see that Danny was finding this situation difficult. They didn't blame him. They were a little jealous themselves. Howard would never, or at least it was highly unlikely, need to know first aid. Howard wouldn't know the horror of seeing his friend's bones split in half, jutting out of his skin. Howard wouldn't have to listen to his friend scream in agony as he tried to patch his friend up as best as he could.

"I remember this one time when a robot grabbed the ninja and Cunningham couldn't get away so he dropped a bee ball. Those bees are rabid. They go after anything. The robot panicked and they both ran for it as the bees chased them. It was honking hilarious. I can show you the video. Anyway, Cunningham dove off the building roof into a pool below. Thing is, he doesn't know how to dive. He hit the water twenty stories down face first. He had a red mark all around his eyes but nothing else. It was so bruce," Howard recalled, not noticing the trio's discomfort.

"I have to go to the bathroom. I'll catch up with you guys," Danny mumbled, having had enough. Sam and Tucker watched Danny leave sadly. Howard blinked before shrugging and starting another story that Randy claimed was exaggerated.

Danny shoved his hands into his pockets and glared at his feet. It wasn't fair. Danny shook his head. He had to stop comparing himself to Randy. There had to be some down sides for the ninja, and there were some advantages to having ghost powers. Right? Danny sighed and pushed the door to the bathroom open with his shoulder. He walked over to the sink and turned on the tap, splashing his face and looking at the mirror.

"Get over it Fenton. Randy seems pretty inexperienced. He's probably new at this. And the ninja has been around for something like eight hundred years. That's got to count for something. It doesn't mean he's better than me. He just has a better reputation," Danny muttered to himself. The words sounded hollow to him. His face flickered intangible and the water fell off of him into the sink. He turned the tap off. He sighed sadly.

"It's not my fault ghost hunters decided ghosts can't think, feel or be capable of good," he whispered despairingly.

Suddenly the bathroom door was pushed open and Dash and Kwan came in.

"Those burgers were really messy," Kwan commented as he turned on the tap. Dash stepped over to a urinal and unzipped his jeans.

"Yeah, but tasty. This place is great. I mean the robots are scary and annoying but the ninja seems pretty cool," Dash agreed.

"I know right. At least the ninja hangs around after a fight, not like Phantom," Kwan remarked as he squirted soap onto his hand and lathered his hands up, eager to get rid of the grease. Danny scowled, turning on his own tap and washed his hands to prevent the bullies asking questions or getting suspicious of his reasons for being in the bathroom.

"You know, I think the ninja is better than Phantom. I mean Phantom can do all that cool stuff but he's a ghost. But the ninja is alive. A person like you and me. With a ton of cool weapons and stuff," Dash commented, zipping up his jeans now that he was finished. Danny swallowed down a wave of anger and resentment towards Randy and misery for his ghost half's ability and sacrifice being dismissed so easily.

"I totally agree. Do you reckon we can transfer here? I know a few of the other guys and Paulina want to go here instead. Imagine if we got to meet the ninja," Kwan retorted eagerly, shaking excess water off his hands before stepping over to the dryers as Dash washed his own hands. Danny stood still with his hands under the running water, feeling terrible. Dash and Paulina were among Phantom's biggest supporters. And now… they preferred the ninja. That hurt. More than Danny was willing to admit.

"Fenturd, what do you think of the ninja?" Dash suddenly inquired, a cruel grin growing on his face. Danny blinked at being addressed and shrugged.

"I dunno. I mean he did get our bus and the replacement bus wrecked," Danny pointed out carefully. It was petty and childish but he wanted to show Dash and Kwan that the ninja wasn't perfect.

"You need your eyes checked Fenton, that was the robot's fault," Kwan chuckled.

"Wait, so the robot gets the blame if it's the ninja but if Phantom and some ghost cause public damages, it's Phantom's. That doesn't seem fair to me," Danny argued.

"Well, yeah. Ghosts can go through walls without breaking them down. I doubt the ninja would be able to destroy the school by himself but Phantom could do it, easy. Plus, Phantom did steal those presents and valuables," Dash reasoned.

"And kidnapped the mayor. Don't forget that one," Kwan added.

Danny blinked stupidly, lost for words. It wasn't fair! He didn't care if it was childish. It just wasn't fair! Randy was loved by everyone. Danny wouldn't be surprised if the ninja could get away with murder. But Phantom? He just had to stand beside a cracked pavement or dented car to be shouted at and blamed. Before Danny could register it, Dash grabbed him by the collar and shoved his head down the nearest toilet, spouting off some comment about cleaning his eyes out so he didn't make stuff up about the ninja. The two jocks left Danny gasping for breath on the bathroom floor, surrounded by tissue and puddles of what he hoped was only water. He didn't care though. He hugged his knees to his chest and shook water out of his hair. It wasn't his fault that his parents built the on switch inside the portal. He didn't want to be some half-ghost freak hated by everyone. It wasn't fair.

Dash and Kwan walked out of the bathroom with broad grins and left the school building, stopping in a run-down shed. Suddenly both boys slumped to the ground and Spectra and Bertrand were left standing over them.

"That was fun," Bertrand chuckled.

"Wasn't it? And that misery was delicious. I didn't think it would be so easy! I should have thought of this ages ago," Spectra agreed with a gleeful grin.

"Although eavesdropping did help. He should really stop talking to himself," Bertrand remarked with a cruel smirk.

"I can pick at that next time. They do say talking to yourself is the first sign of madness. I remember Ember talking about something Youngblood told her. Apparently the little brat made Phantom and his whole family think he was going nuts. Poor Danny nearly had a breakdown over it," Spectra recalled with a hungry smile. Bertrand gave a bark of laughter.

"Well, why don't we go around a few other kids?" Bertrand suggested.

"Good idea," Spectra decided before they phased back into Dash and Kwan's bodies.

Meanwhile deep underground a tall, wrinkled man with dark green skin and pupil-less eyes sat on a stool. The stool was so low, the man might as well have been sitting on the ground. But when imprisoned for eight centuries, the man was thankful for small luxuries. These luxuries included his little friend. A rat that sometimes brought him treats, well brought for him, the man stole from the rat, same thing. This man was called the Sorcerer. A man that was corrupted by power and doomed to stay in this pit, banished by the first ninja. All he wanted was revenge and world domination… was that too much? The Sorcerer was bored. There hadn't been anything to do for five days. The school had been in a surprisingly good mood due to an upcoming basketball game. And the weekends were always boring. The Sorcerer had limited range and was more or less confined to the school.

Suddenly he straightened and sniffed the air, smacking his lips together with a grin.

"Anguish. Delectable. Jealousy and envy too. Such a sweet combination," the Sorcerer muttered with excited anticipation, releasing a green vapour known as stank. The vapour drifted upwards through the cracks in the rock above and through the ventilation into a boys bathroom in the school. Sitting on the floor, soaked and utterly miserable was a boy with black hair and blue eyes. The green vapour drifted down and surrounded the boy. He gasped in surprised alarm before groaning as the stank entered him and began to alter him for the Sorcerer's purpose. Destroy the ninja.

 **Poor Danny. Jealous of Randy, Spectra and Bertrand using Dash and Kwan to make him even more miserable and now the Sorcerer's messing with the halfa.**

 **Any idea what will happen to Danny? He is half ghost, will that affect how the stank works?**

 **Spectra and Bertrand are still around. Any ideas on what they'll get up to?**

 **Let me know what you guys think of the story so far.**

 **Also don't forget to check out my website, there's a link in my bio, and cast your vote for the next fanfic.**

 **Until the next chapter.**


	9. Chapter 9

"Danny's taking a long time. Do you think he got lost?" Randy wondered, looking at the cafeteria door worriedly.

"I'm sure Danny's fine," Tucker replied with an unconvincing smile. Howard dropped into a seat beside Sam with a tray of food and started to stuff fries into his mouth. Sam wrinkled her nose in disgust and scooted a few inches away from the red head. Randy sighed softly. He had a feeling that the Casper High students weren't telling him something. Danny had looked a little upset ever since Randy joined them after the robot attack. Randy recalled how the teen had almost constantly been checking on his hometown.

Suddenly Randy understood. He almost wanted to face-palm himself. It was so obvious. The teen was worried about his parents. Danny's parents were ghost hunters and Casper High was a school in one of the most haunted places in America. Of course Danny was worried. And now, with the bus wrecked… again, the Casper High students would have to stay in Norrisville for at least another day. Randy chewed his lip guiltily. It was his fault the bus got wrecked. True it was McFist's robot, but the bus was only hit because Randy had fooled around trying to hack the robot and forgot to check around himself for dangers. Maybe Danny was upset with him. Randy instantly wanted to find the teen to apologise and check that Danny was alright.

Randy got to his feet, pulled his bag onto his shoulder. He turned to Sam and Tucker.

"Danny's upset with me, isn't he," Randy told them, already knowing the answer.

"Randy, it's not like that," Sam began. Randy held up a hand.

"Is he really in the bathroom? I want to apologise to him," Randy asked. Tucker and Sam shared a bewildered look.

"Probably. But Randy, really, he's probably fine. He just needs a few minutes to calm down and he'll come find us. Trust us, we know," Sam admitted. Randy nodded.

"Maybe, but I'd rather find him and apologise before I forget or this goes on too long," Randy decided and left the table. Randy shook his head sadly. He should have realised sooner that Danny was upset.

However before Randy could reach the door, a wall exploded with green energy and a hulking being stepped into the cafeteria. It had a black mane of hair, swollen arms and a humped back. Its mouth was lined with sharp fang like teeth and its blue eyes almost seemed to glow dangerously with anger and sadness. Its hands had long fingers, encased in glowing green energy. Randy and the rest of the students in the cafeteria stared at the creature in shock before a Casper High student screamed. The spell was broken and everyone scrambled to get out of the cafeteria. Randy ran back to Howard, Sam and Tucker.

"That looks like a ghost," Tucker whispered in a stunned stupor. Sam nodded in agreement, mouth gaping open in shock. Randy ignored them, shoving his bag into Howard's arms before fishing the ninja mask out of his pocket and ducking under the table.

"Smoke bomb!" Randy's voice exclaimed and a red cloud of foul-smelling smoke erupted on the opposite side of the cafeteria. The ninja turned to the stanked kid and frowned in concentration.

"Alright, not Bucky for a change. Not Julian. Not Theresa. I don't recognise this kid's stanked form. So must be a Casper High student. This is not gonna be easy then," the ninja muttered to himself. The stanked kid turned to the ninja and roared. The ninja winced. The monster seemed angry at him. He couldn't really blame the kid, he had just got the bus wrecked. Again.

"Alright, calm down. I'm sure they'll get another bus," the ninja offered. Suddenly the green energy around the monster's hands was thrown at the ninja. Randy's eyes widened in alarm as he flipped away from the blasts.

"That's new. Never had that before," the ninja exclaimed in surprise. The monster roared again and threw more energy at the ninja.

"Would it help if I apologised!?" the ninja shouted hopefully as he sprinted away from danger, making sure not to endanger Howard, Sam and Tucker who hadn't run away yet.

"What is that?" Tucker asked, snapping out of his shock first.

"Stanked kid. Don't worry. Cunningham can save 'em," Howard explained dismissively.

"Stanked?" Sam repeated in confusion.

"Yeah. It's this schnasty gas stuff that targets bummed out kids and makes them into monsters like that. The Sorcerer makes it and sends those monsters after the ninja to try and destroy him," Howard elaborated calmly.

"So this is normal?" Tucker wondered.

"Well… no. Those energy blasts are new. Stank doesn't give the kid powers, just changes them into monsters and enhances their skills," Howard clarified. Sam and Tucker turned to each other horrified.

"When you say bummed out kids, how bummed?" Sam whispered fearfully.

"I don't know. Sad, angry, jealous. Bummed," Howard retorted with a shrug.

Sam sprinted towards the monster suddenly.

"Sam!?" Howard and the ninja screamed worriedly. Sam stopped in front of the monster and held up her hands.

"Danny! Calm down!" she yelled. The monster turned to her before growling at the ninja. Tucker ran to Sam's side and put his hands out as well.

"Dude! This isn't you. It's some gas making you into some kind of monster," Tucker added loudly.

"The only way to de-stank someone is to deal with the reason behind getting stanked," the ninja interjected, realising that Sam and Tucker were right and this was Danny when stanked. Sam and Tucker shared a knowing look.

"We think we know what bummed him out. How do we deal with it?" Sam asked.

"Depends. If it's an item, we have to destroy it," Randy answered. Stanked Danny snarled angrily at the ninja and made to attack him but Sam and Tucker jumped in the way, surprisingly able to stop stanked Danny.

"What if it's something mental? Like self-confidence?" Tucker pressed.

"I dunno. That's harder. We need to remove the reason for him being stanked. So reassuring him might work. We just need to make him feel better about himself," the ninja explained, scratching his head through the fabric mask. Sam nodded.

"Would it be too much to ask for some privacy?" Tucker requested, wanting to keep Danny's secret for as long as possible.

"What if he attacks you? I need to stay here in case you're in danger. Stanked kids aren't usually this responsive to friends," the ninja pointed out.

"Cunningham stays, I stay too," Howard added firmly. Sam and Tucker sighed knowing that they weren't going to be able to hide Danny's secret. Although, it was fair that Randy and Howard knew their secret seeing that they knew theirs'.

"Danny, you're a hero. It doesn't matter if you don't get cheers or get chased down, right? You do the right thing," Sam began. Stanked Danny grumbled deep in his throat uncertainly.

"Remember last Christmas. That little boy. We took the Christmas tree to his house and you helped him put the star on top? He was so happy. Remember what he said," Tucker recalled. Stanked Danny turned to his friend and tilted his head slightly to the side.

"He said that you were his role model. That he wanted to grow up to be like you," Tucker told the teen with a warm smile. Stanked Danny turned his gaze to the floor.

"Think of Jazz. She loves you and is super proud of you too. And you know that your parents love you and if they ever found out the truth, they'd be proud too," Sam continued.

"We're proud too. And we'll always stand by you, no matter what," Tucker added with conviction. The hulking form of stanked Danny seemed to shrink slightly. Sam and Tucker grinned happily.

"Remember how Paulina and Star started up that fan club," Sam reminded the teen with a grin.

"And that site we know the nerds made about you. Remember those ridiculous theories about you on it," Tucker resumed with a snort.

"What about after Pariah Dark? The _news_ called you a hero Danny," Sam remembered happily. Stanked Danny shrank a lot more after that comment. Howard and the ninja glanced at each other in shock. They had no idea what Sam and Tucker were talking about but it was obviously working.

"Don't forget how Frostbite practically worships you," Tucker added to the list of compliments and good memories.

Gradually, Danny returned to normal before stumbling and falling to the ground, dazed and confused. Sam and Tucker sprinted to their friend's side.

"Ugh, what happened? How'd we get here?" Danny mumbled, pressing a hand to his forehead as a headache threatened.

"Stanked kids have a little bit of memory loss. It's normal," the ninja interjected, hopping off the table he had been standing on.

"Stanked?" Danny repeated in confusion, not even noticing how ripped his jeans and shirt were or how wet he was.

"What's the last thing you remember Danny?" Sam prompted worriedly.

"The school bus exploded," Danny answered after a moment's thought.

"Danny that was about fifteen minutes ago," Tucker informed his friend worriedly.

"What!? What have I been doing for the last fifteen minutes then?! And what wrecked this room?" Danny yelped in alarm.

"Er… you did Danny. You got stanked by some Sorcerer and it made you into some kind of rampaging monster," Sam revealed warily.

"Stanked? What's stanked?" Danny insisted worriedly.

"It's this gas that targets bummed out kids and makes them into monsters," Howard helpful explained.

Danny blinked before scowling to himself.

"I did this then. I'm sorry," Danny muttered, disappointed in himself.

"Hey, you didn't know. No one knows about the Sorcerer and stank. They just think monsters attack here and the ninja beats them. Stank makes kids into mindless monsters. It wasn't you," the ninja reassured the teen, seeing that Danny was beating himself up about what just happened. Sam knelt beside him, rubbing reassuring circles in his back while Tucker ran to their table and found Danny's bag with a pair of jeans and a shirt inside. The trio had bought some clothes for their stay. True the clothes in the bag could use a wash, but Danny couldn't go around in rags. Tucker helped his friend to his feet and they stepped into the bathroom in the cafeteria so that Danny could change in privacy.

 **Well crisis averted. But a lot of hints for Howard and Randy to pick up on. Will they figure out Danny's secret?**

 **Let me know what you guys think of the story so far.**

 **Make sure not to miss out on having your say on what will be the next story I post. There's a poll on my website. Link in my bio.**

 **Until the next chapter.**


	10. Chapter 10

"Dude, you okay?" Tucker called through the wooden cubicle door.

"Yeah. Just… how could I let myself get that bad? Why was I so bummed?" Danny replied, angry at himself but still confused.

"You really don't remember?" Tucker realised. He had half-thought that Danny had lied about his last memory to avoid talking about why he was upset.

"No. I mean the bus exploding… I was disappointed and worried about staying here longer but… that wouldn't have bummed me out. Not like Randy was saying I was," Danny answered thoughtfully.

"Promise you won't get upset?" Tucker requested.

"Tuck, I'm not gonna let myself get like that again," Danny vowed with conviction.

"Well, it's just it's not a doing thing, it's a feeling thing you know. You can't help it if you get upset," Tucker reasoned warily.

"Tuck, just tell me," Danny pressed impatiently.

"You were upset because the ninja isn't hated here. Everyone cheered the ninja after I shut down the robot which was literally right after the bus got wrecked. And then Howard started bragging about how Randy doesn't really get hurt during his fights, the ninja suit somehow protects him," Tucker revealed carefully. Danny paused as he pulled on his jeans. He frowned. That was upsetting to hear. It was unfair. But… it wouldn't have been enough to bum him out. Something else must have happened.

"What else?" Danny prompted, as he pulled on his sneakers which were thankfully still intact.

"What do you mean what else? You went to the bathroom to calm down while Howard was bragging. Next thing we knew you were… stanked," Tucker replied.

Danny unlocked the cubicle, grabbing the ruined clothes.

"I get why I left, but I don't think that stuff would be enough to make me that upset. You're sure there was nothing else," Danny admitted. Tucker shrugged.

"Maybe something happened in the bathroom. We won't know because we weren't there and you don't remember," Tucker guessed. Danny nodded in understanding before frowning as he saw his reflection. His hair looked damp. He hadn't noticed before while he was getting changed but now that he noticed it, his ruined shirt was soaked too. Danny leant over the sink and flickered intangible to dry himself off.

"Might be something to do with why I'm wet," Danny remarked with a slight frown. Tucker blinked in surprise before Danny dumped the ruined clothes, double checking his pockets for anything, into the bin filled with crumpled paper towels.

Together they left the bathroom. Randy and Howard were waiting with Sam, the ninja was gone. The cafeteria was still empty and a mess. Danny cringed at the destruction he caused.

"Don't worry, the school has really good insurance and McFist pays for most of the repairs," Randy interjected. Danny sighed but nodded.

"It wasn't your fault Danny. And all you really did was smash down a wall and break a few tables," Sam added. Danny winced.

"So I could have done more?" Danny muttered. Tucker put a hand on Danny's shoulder.

"No one got hurt. You stopped yourself," Tucker whispered in his ear. Danny glanced at his friend.

"The ninja mentioned that most stanked kids don't have that control," Tucker recalled. Danny blinked in surprise. Tucker smiled warmly.

"We should get out of here," Howard announced and led the way towards the door, grabbing his bag on the way.

The five teens left the cafeteria together and stepped outside. The rest of the students were crowded outside, chatting amongst each other while teachers milled around checking registers of their students to make sure everyone was accounted for.

"There you three are. Come on, with the rest," Lancer called and ushered Sam, Tucker and Danny over to their classmates. Danny wordlessly walked between Sam and Tucker, feeling guilty about the cafeteria but also confused about what made him that upset.

"By the way Danny, you used ghost rays when you were stanked," Sam informed him quietly. Danny's eyes widened in panic.

"What? Does Randy and Howard know then?" Danny exclaimed in a whisper.

"We didn't tell them but they're bound to be suspicious. The ghost rays and then the stuff we said to snap you out of it… there's gonna be questions," Tucker replied softly with an apologetic smile and shrug.

"What kind of stuff did you say?" Danny dared to ask.

"We didn't mention Phantom. We did try to get rid of them but Randy wouldn't go until he was sure we'd be okay. And Howard didn't want to leave either. Mostly we just reminded you how much everyone likes Phantom," Sam explained quietly. Danny nodded, closing his eyes slowly with dread.

"Alright, everyone's here. The replacement bus that was going to take us back home has been destroyed by a robot. It was delayed by a car accident. I'm going to have to talk to principal Slimovitz and Mr McFist to organise getting another bus. But for now, we're staying in Norrisville. The cafeteria is off bounds right now, something about a wall getting destroyed. So we're going to gather in the auditorium again until we can organise something else for the rest of the day. Any questions?" Mr Lancer informed the teens. There were a number of disappointed groans but no one had any questions. There was no point asking Lancer anything, he was just as clueless as they were when it came to Norrisville and the ninja. Obediently, the Casper High students crowded into the auditorium and waited.

Ten minutes later, Principal Slimovitz arrived. He stepped on to the stage and flicked on the microphone on the podium.

"Hello Casper High students. I feel that as you're going to be staying a little longer, I should explain a few things. It is school policy that all students have a spare change of clothes on the premises, whether that be in their lockers or in their bags. The Norrisville Ninja protects us from threats such as the rampaging robots, like you've seen. But the ninja also protects us from monsters that attack the school. If you see a monster, you must run and get to safety. Stay out of the ninja's way. Fights can be dangerous and destructive. When a monster attacks, depending on how dangerous it is, there may be an evacuation and roll-call. I will announce over the PA system if it is necessary. Any questions?" Principal Slimovitz told them. Danny flinched as he heard that the school had been evacuated because of him.

"Was that why we were evacuated?" Mikey called up.

"Yes and no. There was a monster attack in the cafeteria a short time after the robot attack outside. I thought it best to evacuate and do a roll-call to enable the ninja the space to neutralise any further threats in the school and to ensure all the students were safe. We also needed to make sure that the damages to the school didn't threaten anyone's safety. Luckily the wall destroyed in the cafeteria wasn't a major wall. The building is stable but the cafeteria and adjoining hallway are blocked off until we can start repairs," Principal Slimovitz answered. Sam patted Danny's arm reassuringly. Danny glanced at her and offered a small smile. It was good to hear that his actions, although not exactly his own, hadn't endangered anyone. But it was annoying to hear these rules designed to help the ninja do his job without distractions. Danny's school didn't have that. Danny couldn't count the amount of times he got hurt protecting the school but got distracted by someone shouting to him, usually Paulina.

Principal Slimovitz waited a few moments before realising that there weren't going to be any further questions. The student of Casper High were used to weird and dangerous fights breaking out randomly due to ghosts attacking the school or general populace in Amity Park. Principal Slimovitz cleared his throat and nodded.

"Well, for the remainder of the day, we're going to split you up and put you into classes. You'll follow those students to their next classes. Mr Lancer?" Principal Slimovitz concluded. Lancer nodded in thanks and stepped up to the podium.

"Fenton, Manson, Foley, Gray, Sanchez, Baxter. You lot are going to Mrs. Driscoll's science class first. A student will guide you there," Lancer listed. Danny, Sam and Tucker sighed. At least they were together. The trio got to their feet and gathered just outside the door.

After a minute wait, a short girl with straight cut hair and full fringe marched over to them.

"Are you the Casper High kids coming to our science class?" she asked, her tone showing she was a very serious person.

"Mrs. Driscoll's?" Valerie inquired. The girl nodded.

"This way. I'm Debbie Kang. I'm the editor for the Norrisville High Gazette Times Tribune Weekly Daily Press Chronicle (NHGTTWDPC) online edition," the girl introduced herself.

"Wow, that's a mouthful," Sam remarked. Debbie shrugged. Within five minutes, they arrived at a classroom door. Debbie paused.

"I should probably let you know that Mrs. Driscoll is a bit… eccentric. She has this skeleton called Jerry. It's her dead husband. Just… go with it alright. It's not worth trying to explain to her that he's dead and so on," Debbie warned them before opening the door and stepping inside. Danny, Sam and Tucker shared bewildered looks before following the girl.

In the classroom, there were a number of students and a woman with a lab coat and big bushy grey hair. Beside the teacher was a skeleton held up by a stand and thick strings.

"You must be the Casper High students. I'm Mrs. Driscoll. I teach science and home economics," the teacher introduced herself before slipping her hand into the skeleton's skull. She then turned the skull to the six students and opened its mouth like it was talking.

"And I'm Mr Driscoll. You better behave for my wife, you hear!?" she exclaimed through the side of her mouth, putting on a vaguely masculine voice. The six students blinked in surprise. Sam glanced at Debbie who shrugged at her.

"Oh Jerry, I'm sure they'll be very well behaved," Mrs. Driscoll retorted to the skeleton, gently tapping the skeleton's ribcage. She turned back to the students.

"Take a seat wherever you like," she invited and gestured towards the tables in front of her. Danny, Sam and Tucker found a table near the back, blinking in surprise when they spotted Randy and Howard at the table beside them. They smiled and gave them small waves. The trio returned the waves with small smiles or nods.

 **So, Danny has no idea about what happened in the bathroom.**

 **I wanted to have a few more characters from Norrisville so there you are. Debbie Kang and Mrs Driscoll.**

 **Let me know what you guys think of the story so far.**

 **It was asked if Randy, Howard, Sam and Tucker were the only ones in the cafeteria when stanked Danny turned up. The answer is yes but they left quickly. It was during lunch. I'm sorry if that wasn't clear.**

 **Don't forget to check out my website and cast your vote in the poll running. There's a link in my bio.**

 **Until the next chapter.**


	11. Chapter 11

McFist stormed into Viceroy's lab. The robot was stopped. Again!

"Viceroy! You said that you fixed the bug! You promised that the ninja wouldn't beat it!" McFist shouted. Viceroy sighed softly before turning to McFist.

"Normally I would be right but… it seems that I haven't taken something into account," Viceroy admitted.

"What!?" McFist snarled furiously.

"The ninja hacked into my robot and shut it down," Viceroy revealed, bringing up a holographic video of the ninja dodging the robot's attacks while tapping on a phone.

"Hack? The ninja hacked into _my_ robot!" McFist growled angrily. Viceroy nodded.

"Yes. He did. I wasn't aware that the ninja was able to hack. But I've installed numerous firewalls and blocked the way the ninja used to get access to the robot," Viceroy reported.

"So the ninja won't be able to hack in again?" McFist assumed hopefully. Viceroy hummed thoughtfully.

"He won't be able to hack in the same way. I can't be sure he won't find another way in. But this is good. The robot is too hard for the ninja to fight. He has resorted to hacking. And I can use that to track the ninja down. I just have to trace the device the ninja used to hack in," Viceroy informed his employer with a grin. McFist nodded, appeased.

"Wonderful. Make sure you don't mess this up again," McFist concluded before leaving. He had to do some more damage control. The bus company wanted compensation for the bus that exploded and the school needed money for repairs. Not to mention those brats from Casper High were still around and needed to be appeased.

Tucker scurried into the computer lab with a broad grin. He switched on three computers and invited Howard and Randy to sit down.

"Actually Tucker, I'm gonna pass. I don't think I'm cut out for hacking," Howard interjected, dropping into a seat beside Sam and Danny instead. Tucker's grin faltered for a second in disappointment having lost a student but he quickly turned to Randy happily and began to teach him about hacking once again. Danny switched on a computer and instantly looked up Amity Park. Sam sighed but didn't try to discourage him this time. Danny had had a rough day. She'd let him do whatever he wanted. Howard peered over Danny's shoulder.

"Anything on your parents?" he asked unexpectedly. Danny jumped and put a hand over his chest.

"Don't do that!" he snapped irritably. Howard grinned at him, not realizing that startling Danny could cause injuries if he was especially tense.

"Why are you asking about my parents?" Danny inquired once he recovered.

"Well Randy realised that you were so upset earlier because you're worried about them. Being ghost hunters and all," Howard elaborated. Danny glanced at Randy.

"Oh right. Yeah. Well um, there were a couple of ghost attacks but doesn't look like anyone got hurt," Danny answered honestly.

"Anyone we know?" Sam wondered out loud. Danny hummed softly as he clicked into the articles and skimmed it.

"Box ghost… repeatedly. Sounds like some kind of elephant with tentacles and teeth was in the park. And er… Johnny and Kitty I think broke a few speed limits but looks like dad chased them down," Danny read.

"See nothing to worry about," Tucker remarked before returning to his hacking lesson.

"You really know your stuff when it comes to ghosts. Do you help your parents?" Howard commented. Danny shook his head.

"My sister Jazz has a couple of times but never anything on the front lines so to speak," Danny told him.

"Must be cool," Howard muttered with a smirk. Danny didn't reply. In a way it was. His parents were fairly knowledgeable in their field, just a little misinformed in a couple of areas. But in another way, it really wasn't. First, his father was forever embarrassing him and with Danny being half-ghost, living where ghost hunters made and tested their weapons, it could be downright dangerous to spend time with his family.

For the next couple of hours, they spent their time in the computer lab, joined by the computer club a few minutes after they arrived but they weren't asked to leave, before heading to Greg's Game hole at Howard's suggestion and subsequent insistence. Danny, Sam and Tucker easily avoided talking about what was said when Danny was stanked by using the games as diversions before they left to go back to their accommodations for dinner, as per the rules. After dinner, the trio settled in Danny and Tucker's room with a pack of cards they bought. Sam was forced to go back to her house around ten and the trio went to bed shortly afterwards.

The next morning, Lancer had provided timetables for the Casper High students to follow. Surprisingly, Randy and Howard were present in most of the classes Sam, Danny and Tucker had. As usual, the trio sat with Randy and Howard at lunch which had been moved to the front lawn but Randy was forced to run off and deal with no less than three stanked kids. According to Howard, it was unusual for so many kids to get stanked a day. It was during the fourth attack, that the ninja chased a large monster with snarling teeth and hunched shoulders, moving very much like a gorilla into view of the other students. Danny watched, not having had the chance before as he was stanked the first time and Randy had ran off alone for the last three. He frowned as the ninja struggled to fight the gorilla-like stanked kid.

"Don't recognise that one. Probably from your school," Howard commented with a frown. Danny blinked and turned to Sam and Tucker who were frowning at the fight also. Most of the students, both local and Casper High, had evacuated the area, screaming at the top of their lungs. Danny scanned the area, trying to figure out who was missing. His eyes widened in surprise when he spotted Dash and Kwan watching, slight surprise but greedy grins on their faces. Danny's eyes narrowed suspiciously as he suddenly recalled that he had spoken to them in the bathroom before he got stanked, although he had no idea about what.

"Be right back," Danny mumbled and left Sam, Howard and Tucker to watch the ninja struggle with the monster. Sam and Tucker glanced at Danny but decided that their friend either wanted to leave and invisibly help the ninja or had enough of watching the fight. Howard frowned after the teen but decided to follow Sam and Tucker's example to not intervene.

Danny crossed the lawn but veered off to one side, giving the suspicious jocks a wide berth. He then hide in a bush and turned invisible before sneaking up on Dash and Kwan.

"I'm really liking this place," Kwan muttered.

"Me too. Who knew misery here made kids into monsters!? I love it!" Dash exclaimed gleefully. Danny frowned. He knew Dash liked to beat up kids, but cause misery? That wasn't the Dash Danny knew and despite being on different sides of the social spectrum, Danny did have a good understanding of Dash.

"Uh? Spectra, Phantom's not with his friends," Kwan whispered fearfully. Danny scowled angrily. He suddenly understood what happened the day previous. Spectra and Bertrand, masquerading as Dash and Kwan, picked at his insecurities without him even noticing while he felt upset by the ninja being accepted. They caused him to get stanked.

"I told you to watch him," Dash hissed worriedly.

"No you didn't. And why do I have to watch him!?" Kwan retorted. Danny, still invisible and behind the overshadowed jocks, turned his arms intangible and plunged both hands into both jocks' backs, pulling the disguised ghosts out of their bodies forcefully. Dash and Kwan collapsed as Danny turned himself visible, holding onto Spectra and Bertrand, glaring angrily at them.

"Should have known that you were behind all this," Danny growled.

"Hey Danny, fancy seeing you here?" Spectra replied nervously, giving the halfa a little wave, Bertrand offered an anxious grin.

 **And Danny solved the mystery of getting stanked.**

 **So yeah, I'm going to confirm, Spectra and Bertrand were behind so many stanked kids… along with the Sorcerer of course.**

 **And I'm going to confirm that they were involved in the car accident, but they don't get caught for that one I'm afraid.**

 **Let me know what you guys think of the story so far.**

 **I'm closing the poll Friday, so make sure to cast your vote on my website before then. There's a link in my bio.**

 **Until the next chapter.**


	12. Chapter 12

Danny glowered at the misery ghost and her assistant. He glanced up when the ninja gave an alarmed exclamation.

"Alright, who is the ninja fighting?" Danny demanded to know. Spectra and Bertrand glanced at each other nervously before shrugging.

"Paulina Sanchez. It really didn't take much what with her vanity," Spectra admitted. Danny blinked in surprise and looked at the stanked monster again. Paulina was the furthest from his mind when he saw that monster. Part of him smirked at the news, knowing that Sam would love to know her long-term rival was a hideous monster. He looked back to the ghosts when he felt them preparing to escape. He narrowed his eyes angrily at them while he internally worried about his next move. He didn't want to alert Howard or Randy to the ghosts' presence, especially since his secret was on seriously thin ice. But at the same time, he didn't have a thermos on his person, he needed to ask Sam or Tucker for theirs.

Sighing, he knew he had to go to Sam and Tucker and just risk his secret. Yet another sacrifice for the greater good. Another sacrifice that would mean next to nothing to others. Danny mentally slapped himself. That didn't matter. He didn't do what he did for the glory. He did it because it was the right thing to do. He dragged the two ghosts across the lawn, praying that no one was watching him with a ninja fight nearby. It was bad enough to risk his secret with Howard, he didn't want people from Amity Park seeing wimpy Danny Fenton manhandling ghosts. Howard noticed Danny first and frowned in confusion as Danny dragged two seemingly normal adults over to the trio.

"Tuck! Sam! Tell me you have a thermos," Danny called. Tucker and Sam looked up in surprise before spotting Spectra and Bertrand, both of whom had begun struggling.

Tucker opened his backpack immediately and pulled out a metal thermos. Danny suddenly yelped and dropped Spectra who had scratched his arm viciously.

"Spectra! Help me!" Bertrand cried desperately, his arms too short to attack Danny. Spectra paused long enough to flash Bertrand an apologetic glance.

"Sorry Bertrand, I ain't getting stuck in that thing for who knows how long," Spectra muttered and fled. Danny quickly shook Bertrand roughly and charged his fingers with a little ghost energy, enough to cause discomfort and distract the ghost from shape-shifting but not enough for Howard to see the dim glow in the bright sunlight. Tucker scrambled to open the thermos and sucked Bertrand inside.

Howard gaped in disbelief. He pointed from Danny to the thermos and back in stunned silence. Danny hissed in discomfort and pulled his hand up to inspect his injury, knowing that Spectra had escaped.

"How!?" Howard finally exclaimed.

"They're ghosts. The thermos captures ghosts," Sam explained as she stood up to help her friend. Danny let Sam inspect the deep scratches as he turned to watch the ninja dodged the gorilla-like monster that was Paulina as she charged him.

"By the way, I know who Randy's fighting," Danny revealed.

"Who?" Tucker inquired curiously. Danny fought down a smirk, already looking forward to Sam's reaction.

"Paulina. Spectra and Bertrand used her vanity to bum her out," Danny told them. Sam looked up and glanced at the monster before grinning evilly.

"This is too good," the Goth muttered.

"We have to help her," Danny reminded his friend.

"Do we have to? I personally think she's better like this," Sam moaned. Danny chuckled before nodding.

"Fine, but I'm _not_ complimenting that witch," Sam growled, folding her arms defiantly. Danny rolled his eyes.

"Ninja! That's Paulina! Just tell her she's beautiful!" Danny shouted to the struggling ninja, cupping his mouth to be heard over Paulina's un-ladylike roar. The ninja looked up in surprise before giving Danny a grateful nod and began complimenting Paulina's looks repeatedly.

"I thought you said you didn't help your parents," Howard recalled.

"I don't. But I've grown up being taught to be ready for if a ghost attacks. It came in handy when our town suddenly got infested in ghosts. One of us generally has at least a thermos and an ecto-weapon handy," Danny replied with a shrug. It wasn't a complete lie.

Danny turned to the fight between Paulina and the ninja when an explosion of green gas erupted from Paulina, leaving her in tattered clothes and a confused, dazed expression.

"Ugh, I feel so icky," Paulina complained and started looking around herself.

"Where's my ghost boy? He saved me from a gross ghost right?" Paulina wondered out loud. The ninja's eyes scrunched up in confusion as he offered a hand to the confused teen girl.

"Er, I dunno who your ghost boy is but you're safe now. You do feel normal right?" the ninja remarked. Paulina wrinkled her nose at the ninja.

"Ew, you stink! Where's my beloved ghost boy!?" Paulina exclaimed with clear impatience. Danny couldn't help it, he laughed. Sam and Tucker soon followed.

"Hey, it's not my fault! The smoke bombs just have a-er unique smell. You just need to get used to it," the ninja protested, ignoring the trio laughing beside Howard, who looked almost as confused as Paulina.

Paulina scowled at the ninja as she got to her feet and dusted the dust off her ruined jeans before squealing in horror.

"How did my favourite jeans get destroyed!? You did this!" Paulina accused. The ninja held up his hands to appease the fuming teen girl and backed away nervously.

"Uh, n-no. W-why would I w-want to ruin y-your clothes?" the ninja stammered nervously. Danny's laughter renewed as he realised that the ninja had never been challenged like he was being challenged right now. It was refreshing to see someone else being blamed for something they didn't do. And the fact that the lawn was once again riddled with craters from the fight and patches of ice from ninja cold balls littered everywhere around Paulina and yet the girl didn't notice any of it, only added to the hilarity of the situation.

"Trust Paulina to get more upset about her clothes than the fact that she doesn't remember the last however long while she was stanked," Sam muttered, rolling her eyes with mild amusement. The ninja backed away from Paulina who had started shouting at the poor boy, advancing on the retreating teen as she got angrier. The ninja, driven to drastic measures, pulled out a smoke bomb and didn't even bother to shout out a warning before throwing it down and disappearing. Paulina screamed in horror as the smoke enveloped her, leaving the vile smell clinging to her. Randy ran over to the four teens seconds later, looking a little overwhelmed by Paulina's verbal attack on him.

Paulina screeched angrily and stormed off, most likely looking for Star and her school bag for a change of clothes, that or a hiding place so no one else saw her less than perfect.

"You alright Cunningham? That girl was brutally mean," Howard asked worriedly, watching his taller friend. Randy gulped slowly and nodded.

"Yeah. I mean, it was probably just 'cause she had a bad day," Randy muttered uncertainly. Danny raised an eyebrow at Randy's comment.

"Doesn't the ninja get bad publicity at all?" Danny couldn't help but inquire. Randy shook his head.

"Not really, no. I mean sometimes a bad fight gets talked about but that's about it. Do you guys know who that girl meant by her ghost boy?" Randy answered, recovering from his encounter with Paulina quickly, having brushed off her ungratefulness and lack of awe. Sam and Tucker shared a quick nervous glance and shook their heads while Danny pushed down yet another wave of jealousy.

"Of course not Randy. We're not even friends with Paulina. Hardly talk to each other," Sam replied. Randy frowned in confusion at the door Paulina disappeared through.

"She seemed to think I should know who she meant," Randy remarked.

"We don't really pay attention to the A-listers. Maybe if we did we would know what she meant," Danny lied. Howard and Randy hummed in understanding.

"Oh Cunningham, you totally missed Danny being the cheese. He caught two ghosts. Well one got away but there's a ghost in that thermos," Howard recalled with a broad grin, pointing to the thermos in Tucker's hands. Randy blinked.

"I thought you didn't help your parents to ghost hunt," Randy pointed out. Danny sighed.

"I don't but I have grown up in a house where it's perfectly normal to wear hazmat suits every day and stink of ghost goop. It's in my blood to be ready for a ghost attack and I kinda got Sam and Tucker to think the same. We always have something to defend ourselves with," Danny reasoned. Howard grinned at Randy again.

"So… where's your equipment?" Randy questioned, noticing the lack of gadgets on Danny's person. Danny blinked as he struggled to find a lie to say.

"Danny's wearing a Spectre Deflector. He just has to touch a ghost to weaken them," Sam interjected with a nervous grin, silently begging the two Norrisville teens not to ask to see the gadget and for Tucker to keep his mouth shut about Danny not being able to wear the device.

Howard grinned broadly, looking excited while Randy scratched his head in thought and confusion.

"Can I get one!?" Howard exclaimed hopefully.

"We only have one with us and Danny needs it. Ghosts do tend to target him because of his parents. But maybe we could send you one if you really want one. All it does though is shock a ghost if it touches you, weakening them," Sam explained, semi-truthfully. Howard deflated slightly.

"So I actually have to do something," Howard muttered and the trio of ghost hunters nodded. Howard wrinkled his nose in distaste.

"That's wonk," the short teen grumbled. Randy spotted Danny's bleeding scratches and his eyes widened in concern.

"Danny, you're arm," Randy pointed out worriedly. Danny blinked and looked down at the three deep bleeding scratches.

"Yeah, should have paid more attention to Spectra. She got away but I'll track her down with Sam while you have your hacking lesson with Tuck after school," Danny replied.

"Can I come?!" Howard requested hopefully.

"Er, sorry Howard. Spectra's kinda bad news so it's not a good idea," Danny muttered, secretly wanting to discourage the teen simply so he could use his ghost powers more openly to both find and fight Spectra. Howard frowned disappointedly before groaning loudly as the bell rang.

 **Yep, Howard and Randy are getting a lot of hints about Danny's ghost half. But do you think they'll put it all together?**

 **I loved writing the irony with Paulina, but let me know your thoughts.**

 **Let me know what you guys think so far.**

 **The poll closes tomorrow so don't miss out on the chance to have a say in what I post next. There's a link in my bio for my website.**

 **Until the next chapter.**


	13. Chapter 13

Randy and Howard followed Tucker to the computer room straight after school. Danny and Sam had already left to track down Spectra.

"What makes you all so sure that Spectra ghost is still around here?" Randy wondered as Tucker turned on the computers they'd need. Howard dropped into a seat nearby, turning on his own computer.

"Spectra is a really sadistic ghost. She feeds off misery and her favourite kind of misery is from teenagers. She once posed as a psychiatrist at our school and she tried to waste Danny's sister. Spectra also likes to target Danny. He thinks it was her fault he got so bummed the other day. So she'll stay close to the school or other popular teen hangouts," Tucker explained.

"Guess it's pretty personal then if he has so much history with Spectra," Randy remarked softly, frowning in thought. Tucker shrugged.

"I guess. But Spectra isn't the only ghost that targets him. And she isn't the only ghost to have directly targeted his family either," Tucker revealed absently as he sat down at his computer and gestured for Randy to sit down also.

Howard settled into his seat happily. He was so glad he quit hacking lessons. While it would have been amazing to be able to do the stuff Tucker could, such as take down deadly robots, it was way too hard and too much effort to try and learn. Howard had decided that hacking was something you either got or you didn't. And Howard had surmised that he didn't get hacking. He didn't think Randy did either but his friend wanted to learn to make himself a better ninja. Howard ignored Tucker slipping into his teacher voice as he eagerly began explaining things to Randy. Howard opened the internet and, with a shrug, decided to look up Amity Park. Both Randy and Howard were curious about who Paulina meant by ghost boy, but they were becoming intrigued by Danny and his family also. Since Randy was busy getting utterly confused by Tucker's lesson, Howard decided to look it up.

It took a few clicks and searches but Howard found a newspaper from Amity Park with a headline mentioning the ghost boy. It was old. But it peaked Howard's interest. He skimmed the article and raised an eyebrow. Inviso-Bill? That was the worst name he had ever heard. But he then searched for Inviso-Bill and found actual videos of the ghost boy fighting other ghosts. Howard watched a few before his eyes snapped wide open. Inviso-Bill was firing green energy blasts out of his hands. They looked incredibly similar to the blasts stanked Danny had fired. Curious, he scrolled down to the comments below the video. He frowned in confusion at one comment in particular.

"Phantom is so cool!" the remark said. Howard glanced over his shoulder as Randy growled loudly in frustration while Tucker took over his computer and removed the coding that had somehow caused the computer to crash.

Howard frowned in confusion and turned back to his computer and searched for the Phantom of Amity Park. There were a lot of results and the top one was a website. Howard clicked on it and found a brightly coloured site filled with pictures and videos of the ghost boy. There was a forum too with plenty of conversations. He clicked into one and blushed as he realised this particular conversation was filled with fan-girls fawning over the teen ghost. Many comments were stating that Phantom saved them and they gushed about how nice the ghost had been. But one particular member was constantly saying that Phantom was her soul mate and that she loved Phantom. In fact, Howard felt it was borderline obsessive.

Howard left the conversation and found a different conversation which seemed to be a debate over what was coolest about the teen ghost. Howard once again spotted the obsessive fan-girl mentioning that the ghost was strong and good-looking. Whereas others mentioned the ghost's powers. But one comment caught Howard's attention.

"Personally I think it's Phantom's determination. I mean, it's gotta be hard fighting all those ghosts and then getting attacked by the Fentons or that red ghost hunter," the member remarked. Howard scowled. Did Danny's parents actively attack a hero? Were Danny's family the Phantom's McFist and Sorcerer? Howard bit his lip. Did Danny hurt Phantom because of what his parents taught him? Howard knew he didn't know the entire story, but he could see that Phantom was considered a hero.

"I dunno what you did Randy. This could take some time," Tucker muttered with a scowl. Randy flashed the techno-geek an apologetic shrug.

"Cunningham, can I talk to you?" Howard requested, taking the opportunity instantly, he needed a second opinion. Randy glanced at Tucker but the other teen had already waved Randy away, focusing on the computer so the teens didn't get in trouble. Randy joined Howard, raising a curious eyebrow when he spotted the site Howard was on. He had expected Howard to be playing a game.

"Whatcha looking at Howard?" Randy asked.

"I figured out who that Paulina girl meant by ghost boy. There's a ghost in Amity Park called Phantom. He's kinda like the ninja here," Howard began in a hushed voice, not noticing that Tucker had stiffened in worry.

"That's bruce," Randy cheered.

"Yeah. Except, Danny's parents actively hunt down Phantom. Cunningham, what if Danny's family are like… McFist is for you?" Howard resumed worriedly, looking up at Randy for advice, Tucker continued to eavesdrop and frowned in confusion at the mention of the philanthropist. Randy blinked at the thought.

"Maybe we should talk to Danny before we decide on whether Danny's family are good guys or bad guys," Randy pointed out. Howard nodded.

Tucker glanced at the two friends before he turned back to his task and rolled his eyes in annoyance when he spotted the reason for the computer crashing.

"Figured it out Randy," Tucker called over his shoulder, pushing down his worries about them researching Phantom.

"Back in a minute. Good work Howard. I have to admit I kinda expected you to be playing a game, not doing something productive," Randy commented.

"Productive!?" Howard squeaked in alarm, shrinking away from the computer in horror.

"Yeah, you researched the ghost boy," Randy confirmed.

"Ugh! That's sounds too much like homework. I'm goofing off now," Howard decided with a shudder. Randy chuckled at his friend and returned to Tucker's lesson.

Meanwhile Danny and Sam patrolled the school and nearby buildings. Sam had Tucker's lipstick blaster and Danny had the thermos in his hand.

"So… Spectra's here," Sam ventured, noticing the silence between her and her friend. She knew that he was worried about maintaining his secret.

"Yep," Danny agreed distractedly, scanning the area with alert eyes for any sign of the misery ghost. Sam rolled her eyes.

"Danny, do you want to talk? You know about Randy and Howard getting close to finding out about Phantom," Sam pressed. Danny blinked and glanced at his friend before sighing.

"Not really. I'm hoping they forget everything they saw today and when I got stanked," Danny muttered.

"Danny, they may be goofballs and slackers, but even they will get curious. All they have to do is ask someone else from our school to find out the name Danny Phantom. And they've seen enough to connect some dots," Sam pointed out. Danny sighed again, louder this time.

"I know Sam. I'm just hoping that we get out of here before they connect those dots. And I'm trying to lay low around them," Danny replied. Sam nodded in understanding.

"What if we're not? What if they figure it out before then? What are you gonna do?" Sam questioned. Danny stopped walking and turned to Sam and shrugged.

"Panic?" he suggested. Sam smirked.

"Come on Danny. We need a game plan," Sam encouraged.

"Look, they don't really know much about ghosts or Phantom's history. If we just explain who I am and what I do, I'm sure they'll be fine with it. I can make a deal with them to keep quiet in return for our silence on Randy," Danny decided.

"And what if someone, like Valerie, tells them your ghost half is evil?" Sam interjected. Danny frowned.

"Then I guess I'll have to threaten them to stay quiet. Does it matter? We're not staying here forever, just until we can get a bus out of here," Danny retorted. Sam nodded slowly in agreement, she, like Danny, didn't want to threaten their new friends but if Danny's safety depended on it, she would gladly do it.

Danny resumed walking with Sam around the outside the school and a few minutes later, an icy burst of air erupted from his mouth. He scowled and scanned the area attentively. He growled softly in his throat when he spotted a shadowy figure hiding in the shadows of the building.

"Got her," Danny breathed, subtly pointing her out for Sam. The Goth nodded with an angry but determined scowl. Danny then scanned the area for a hiding place and spotted a wooden shack which he marched over to and ducked inside. Seconds later, Danny Phantom flew out invisibly and charged at the camouflaged ghost. He grabbed her quickly, punching her viciously in the stomach with a ghost energy charged fist. Spectra cried out in alarmed pain and Danny grinned as he sucked the ghost inside his thermos. He was just about to return to the shack in order to transform back into his human form when the earth shook.

Randy smirked as he successfully completed a number of coding commands Tucker gave him. He was finally getting this whole hacking thing.

"That's it! Well done Randy. Now we can move on to a proper challenge," Tucker congratulated happily.

"Proper challenge?" Randy repeated, suddenly filled with dread. It took him ages to do it right this time.

"Yeah. That was super easy. And killer robots aren't gonna be anyway near as simple as that. Don't worry, once you have the basics it gets easier," Tucker confirmed. Randy groaned, slamming his head on the table in frustration.

"I don't even remember what I did!" Randy complained. Tucker blinked at the comment.

"That's it! I'm getting some ninja help," Randy grumbled and he grabbed an ancient tome that matched the Norrisville Ninja suit colours. Randy angrily opened the book and slumped in his seat.

"Randy!?" Tucker exclaimed in alarm.

"Relax, he does that all the time. It's normal. He's in the nomicon. Dunno why he didn't just do that the first time," Howard reassured before he groaned in annoyance as he lost his game.

Less than a minute later, Randy sat up and reflexively wiped the drool from his mouth.

"Stupid nomicon," Randy growled.

"What'd it say?" Howard asked curiously.

"Some weapons are not meant to fit in a ninja's toolbox," Randy recited.

"What the juice? Did you tell it you don't have a toolbox?" Howard retorted, frowning in confusion. Randy sighed loudly.

" _Yes_! But I don't think it's listening to me," Randy confirmed, annoyance and frustration obvious.

"Um, kinda lost here," Tucker reminded them, raising a hand slightly.

"The nomicon is kind of like the manual to being the ninja. It gives me lessons and advice as well as powers. Well technically that's the suit but the book tells me how to do the spells to use the powers. But most of its advice is in the form of gibberish or pointless comments. I don't have a toolbox. And why would I keep a mace in there anyway?" Randy explained with an exasperated shake of his head. Tucker considered the remark but before he could say anything further, the earth shook.

Randy was on his feet instantly and ran to the window. Howard turned off his computer calmly.

"Monster?" Howard inquired casually.

"Nope robot. The _same_ robot. Geez, how many times do we have to beat that thing before they scrap it?" Randy corrected with annoyance.

"Better get out there then," Tucker decided and the three teens ran out of the computer room to intercept the robot stomping through the town.

 **Any ideas on what the nomicon is trying to tell Randy?**

 **And look at Howard doing research. They are getting dangerously close to learning something about Danny's secret.**

 **Well at least Spectra and Bertrand have been dealt with. And yeah, they caused the car crash to delay the second school bus. Well done to anyone who guessed that.**

 **Let me know what you guys think of the story so far.**

 **So last chance to cast your vote in the poll on my website for the next story I post. It closes before I post the next chapter. There's a link in my bio.**

 **Until the next chapter.**


	14. Chapter 14

The ninja appeared in an eruption of red smoke. He struck an impressive pose while the people panicking because of the giant robot cheered.

"Do I really have to beat you _again_!?" the ninja shouted up at the robot. He really was getting annoyed with this particular robot. It was like a weed! He much preferred one or two fights only with the same robot, he liked variety. The robot lunged forward at the ninja and the black clad teen flipped over the attacking metallic limb with ease. Grinning confidently under his mask, the ninja grabbed his scarf and used it to get off the ground and on to the nearest roof. The robot was big and clunky so it was too slow to catch the ninja while he was in mid-air. Once he was higher, he pulled out his phone and began trying to hack into the robot. This time it had to work.

Tucker and Howard panted as they arrived at the scene.

"I hate exercise," Howard huffed.

"Me too," Tucker agreed, hunched over to rest his hands on his shaking knees. After a moment of recovery, Howard pulled out his phone and began filming the fight. The ninja was dodging around the large robot while he tapped on his phone, trying to hack into the software. Tucker recovered soon after Howard did and took in the situation. The ninja seemed to be handling multi-tasking a lot easier than in previous fights. Now that he had faced the robot a few times, he knew how fast the robot was and the robot's reach. That meant the ninja knew when and how to dodge the robot's attacks, buying time while he tried to hack in. Tucker was silently impressed, the ninja was actually avoiding property damage for the most part.

Tucker scanned the area and blinked in surprise when he spotted Sam nearby clutching a thermos, watching the fight worriedly. That meant Danny had to be close by too. Tucker returned his focus to the fight and now that he knew to look for it, he spotted that the minimal rubble and debris from the fight was occasionally being diverted away from people that weren't being careful enough. Tucker smirked as he knew exactly what was happening. Randy was getting a little invisible help from a certain halfa. Tucker looked back to the ninja and frowned as he saw the ninja still trying to hack in. Concerned that maybe Randy got confused with the codes or was hacking the wrong thing again, Tucker pulled out his PDA and hacked into the robot.

Meanwhile, in McFist Industries labs, Viceroy and Hannibal McFist were watching a screen with perplexed frowns.

"He's not hacking into the robot," Viceroy repeated himself, completely confused.

"Is he really that arrogant to be _texting_ while fighting _my_ robot!?" McFist shouted outraged. Suddenly there was an alert.

"What's that?" McFist asked.

"It's the anti-hacker alarm I installed. The ninja may not be hacking into the robot, but someone is. Let me track it," Viceroy explained.

"So… the ninja's texting the guy whose actually hacking the robot?" McFist guessed. Viceroy hummed softly as he shrugged. The robot's camera swivelled away from the ninja and landed on two boys. One was a red haired, short boy holding a phone. The other was a teenager they recognised from the tour the Casper High students were given. He wore glasses and a red beret and was typing on a PDA.

"Which one is it?" McFist inquired, frowning at the video feed.

"I'm not sure. The anti-hacker software can't tell. It's your decision Hannibal. I doubt the ninja would know the Casper High student but the first time this robot failed was when the Casper High students arrived," Viceroy replied.

The ninja was starting to see that he was terrible at hacking. He had accidently ordered five hundred tacos to be delivered at the school and then he managed to somehow hack into the cinema and was currently trying to exit out of the timetable. On the bright side, he knew what time the new movie next Friday started. He looked up and rolled away from the robot's punch. The ninja suddenly noticed something. The robot hadn't once fired a missile or a similar type of weapon. Why was that? The ninja quickly got his answer as the robot turned around and stomped towards Tucker and Howard. Howard's grin slowly faded but Tucker was still looking down at his PDA.

"Tucker… I think we need to run," Howard muttered nervously.

"Why?" Tucker replied without looking up.

"Tuck! Look out!" Danny's voice screamed. Howard looked around in confusion while Tucker looked up and a stab of fear flowed through him.

"Oh. That's why," Tucker breathed. He pocketed his PDA and grabbed Howard's arm before sprinting away.

The ninja gasped in alarm. He pocketed his phone and rushed to the edge of the roof, trying to figure out how to stop this robot. He knew his sword wouldn't work but he couldn't figure out what would. He shook his head. He had to protect and save Howard and Tucker before he could defeat the robot. He flipped down into the road.

"Ninja sprint!" he exclaimed as he ran towards the two fleeing teens. The ninja's eyes widened in fear. He wasn't going to be fast enough.

Danny, keeping his invisibility up, flew beside Tucker and Howard. He was scanning the road frantically, searching for an escape route his friends could use. Unfortunately, there weren't nearly as many alleys in Norrisville as there were in Amity Park. Danny didn't know the town all that well either, making navigating during a fight or a chase difficult. He could always phase Tucker and Howard out of harm's way, but he was concerned about exposure. He glanced over his shoulder when he heard the ninja's voice. Danny blinked in alarm. The robot was gaining, fast. While its movements were generally slow, it had a long stride. Danny scowled in determination and decided to take a stand. Buy time for Tucker and Howard to hide. He stopped flying and floated upwards.

The ninja, desperate to buy himself time, threw a tiny giant exploding ball. It hit the robot's arm but did little, if any, damage. The blast merely made the robot stumble. What the ninja didn't know though, was that the blast had affected Danny. Startled and dazed by the noise and shockwave, Danny didn't have enough time to dodge the robot's wayward arm. The metallic appendage smashed into Danny's side, inadvertently throwing the halfa into a building, head first. He changed into his human form and lost his invisibility. He crumbled to the floor, unnoticed during the chaos the robot brought to the area.

The ninja sprinted as fast as he could but he wasn't quick enough to stop the robot stooping down and grabbing Howard and Tucker in its hands. The ninja screeched to a stop. He couldn't endanger Tucker or Howard by fighting the robot head on. Biting his lip, the ninja yanked out his phone and frantically tried to hack in again but he still couldn't figure out how he ended up in the cinema mainframe, let alone how to get out and hack into the robot.

"Ninja!" Howard shouted in warning. The ninja looked up, having focused all his attention on his phone. He only had time to gasp as the robot kicked him into a car down the street. Dazed, the ninja tried to get up but the robot was already walking away.

"Crime and punishment!" a man exclaimed and the ninja looked up to see Casper High's Mr Lancer bent over an unconscious Danny, staring worriedly after the retreating robot. Sam ran over to the ninja.

"Do you know where that robot's taking Howard and Tucker?" Sam inquired worriedly, glancing over to her injured friend repeatedly. The ninja gulped his fear down and nodded.

"At least, I have a pretty good idea. But I'll go after them now," the ninja answered and picked himself up.

"No. Wait for Danny. Without a hacker, you'll need all the help you can get to stop that robot," Sam interjected quickly. The ninja blinked in surprise.

"Danny's hurt Sam. How can he help?" the ninja reminded her.

"Trust me. He can and he's probably not as bad as he looks. Please, just wait for him," Sam reassured. The ninja glanced between Sam's almost pleading expression, to the retreating robot kidnapping Howard and Tucker, to Danny's unconscious body being examined by his vice principal and back to Sam.

"Alright. But only because I'm worried about him," The ninja relented. Sam grinned in relief. The ninja pulled a small ball out of his belt.

"Smoke bomb!" he shouted and disappeared in the foul-smelling red smoke.

Sam waved the smoke away from her, coughing. Once she could breathe again, she ran off towards her hurt friend.

"Miss Manson, did you see what happened?" Lancer inquired, spotting his gothic student.

"I think Danny was trying to help Tucker. But I didn't see what happened exactly," Sam answered carefully, running an experienced eye over her friend's condition without Lancer's knowledge. Danny's hair was matted with blood but other than that, he was unharmed. It was a relief really, Danny rarely got concussions now from head wounds since he was always hitting his head. Randy ran over just as Danny groaned and his eyes fluttered open.

"Is he alright?!" Randy called worriedly. Lancer frowned and snapped his fingers in front of Danny's face, causing the halfa to flinch.

"He's responding. But I'd rather be safe. Miss Manson, could you help me take Mr Fenton to a doctor?" Lancer decided.

"What about Tucker? Mr Lancer, maybe you should let me and Randy take Danny to a doctor. Someone has to go after Tucker and Howard," Sam retorted, already trying to get Danny to his feet. Lancer blinked before biting his lip in indecision.

"Trust us Mr Lancer. We'll manage with Danny but Tucker and Howard need help now," Sam pressed. The teacher sighed and nodded, taking a step away so Randy could grab Danny's other arm and help Sam heave the injured boy to his feet.

Danny stumbled as he began to walk away from Lancer, swaying from side to side while Sam led the way around the corner.

"Is he following?" Danny whispered, surprising Randy by how coherent the teen sounded.

"Nope, you can cut the act," Sam informed the halfa, glancing over her shoulder. Danny smiled and took his arms from Randy and Sam's shoulders. He reached a hand up and gently probed his bleeding head. He hissed in discomfort.

"That's gonna be tender for a while but I should be fine. Skull's intact," Danny decided. Randy blinked in shock.

"Concussion?" Sam asked.

"Nah, but I've got a killer headache. Either of you got some aspirin?" Danny answered.

"B-but you got hurt! Bad! How are you alright?!" Randy finally exclaimed, shaking his shock. Danny and Sam turned to Randy, Sam frowning slightly with guilt while Danny was scowling with uncertainty.

"Do you believe in ghosts?" Danny inquired eventually.

 **So McFist and Viceroy figured out that the ninja wasn't hacking the robot himself but either Tucker or Howard was.**

 **Is Danny about to reveal his secret? If so, how will Randy react?**

 **Let me know what you guys think so far.**

 **Thanks to everyone who voted in the poll. Check out my facebook page for the ad of the winner. There's a link in my bio.**

 **Until the next chapter.**


	15. Chapter 15

"Do you believe in ghosts?" Danny inquired after a tense silence. Randy blinked at the question.

"Not really but I know your town does and claims to be haunted so I dunno. But I don't see how that has anything to do with this," Randy answered slowly. Danny nodded slowly, wincing slightly as his head protested the movement.

"Ready to become a believer?" Danny asked seriously. Randy frowned in confusion.

"Why? Are you gonna let those two ghosts out?" Randy ventured. He wasn't sure if he believed their claims that they had caught ghosts but he was willing to play along if he got some answers. Of course, he really wasn't one to talk about what was possible and what wasn't seeing as he had a magical ninja mask that formed a suit, complete with weapons, in his pocket. Danny pursed his lips before he scanned the street. His eyes stopped on an alley and he grabbed Randy's wrist and marched over to the hiding place. Sam followed. Randy yelped, surprised by Danny's strength and forcefulness but he didn't struggle.

Danny didn't stop until he was at the very back of the alley. He dropped Randy's hand and Randy noticed that Sam had stopped before they did, almost like she was blocking the entrance.

"Randy, what I'm about to show and tell you… you can't tell anyone about. This secret is as big as you being the ninja is. Maybe even more since the ninja is liked so much," Danny began uncertainly. Randy cocked his head to the side in curious confusion.

"Are there any cameras around here?" Danny inquired, stalling what he knew he had to do. Randy shook his head slowly.

"Most cameras are on those McFist robo-apes," Randy revealed, having learnt that for his own safety. Danny sucked in a deep breath, preparing himself for this. He had never really revealed himself like this. Jazz was the only person to have ever learnt his secret and she had found out by accident.

Randy's eyes widened in shock as a white band of light appeared around Danny's waist. The ring of light split in two and separated, gliding across Danny's body. His blue jeans and white t-shirt changed into a black and white jumpsuit with a stylised D on his chest. The light disappeared into the ground, changing his sneakers into thick boots. The light passed over his face, changing his blue eyes into an unnatural glowing green and over his head, disappearing into the air, changing his dark hair into a brilliant white with one side matted with some green liquid. Danny stood still, waiting for Randy's reaction. Randy stood staring at Danny in stunned awe and shock.

Danny licked his lips nervously and glanced at Sam who was watching Randy, slightly concerned over the lack of reaction.

"Randy? You okay?" Danny called nervously.

"I think you overwhelmed him Danny," Sam muttered worriedly.

"I think so too. Randy? Can you please say something? This brain melted stare thing is starting to freak me out," Danny requested anxiously. Randy blinked and slowly shook his head, snapping out of his shock gradually.

"You're Phantom," Randy breathed. Danny and Sam blinked in surprise.

"Where'd you hear that name?" Danny demanded to know worriedly.

"Howard found it on a website online. We thought that you hunted Phantom with your parents. We thought you were a bad guy," Randy mumbled, still dazed. Danny blinked before he chuckled nervously.

"Well, yeah, I can't hunt myself," Danny pointed out nervously.

Randy's eyes suddenly widened in realisation, causing Danny's anxiety to rise. Randy could almost punch himself. All the signs had been there. Danny's anxiety over Amity Park's well-being. Why Danny and his friends had helped the ninja but didn't look for a reward or glory. The comments Tucker and Sam had used to calm down stanked Danny! They even mentioned the website. Heck, it even explained the green energy stanked Danny used if what Randy had learned about ghosts from the trio was true.

"I should have seen this. You figured out my secret so easy because you have one too," Randy whispered. Danny nodded slowly, still waiting for Randy's verdict, good or bad.

"So, you're alright with this?" Sam ventured, seeing how frightened and anxious Danny was getting. Randy turned to her before nodded rapidly.

"Of course! Why wouldn't I be?" Randy answered easily. Danny breathed a sigh of relief.

"Ghosts aren't particularly liked where we're from," Sam pointed out, relieved by the answer herself. Randy frowned in confusion.

"Why?" Randy wondered.

"One example is Spectra. She goes around depressing everyone. She's the reason so many kids as Norrisville High got bummed out and susceptible to being stanked," Danny reminded him. Randy nodded in understanding.

"There aren't many ghosts that visit Amity Park that are nice. So there's a huge debate on if Phantom is actually a good guy or not. Most of the kids think Phantom's a hero but ask law enforcement and other adults and they'd disagree. But it has gotten better," Sam added. Randy frowned in thought.

"I've been a bit… jealous to be honest Randy. The ninja is so accepted here whereas back home… I usually get chased away, running for my life, when I show my face," Danny admitted softly. Randy blinked at the confession before he realised that he should have noticed that too.

"It's not all good being the ninja. The robots are annoying and the monsters aren't always easy. Not everyone loves the ninja either. And I have to learn a ton of stuff from the nomicon. Plus, when I leave school, I have to give it up and get my memories wiped," Randy informed the halfa with a shrug. Danny blinked with surprise at learning that before he offered the younger teen a half-hearted shrug.

"Did you stop the robot taking Tucker and Howard?" Danny inquired, realising that he didn't know where either boy was.

"No. The robot got them but Sam convinced me to wait for you before I went after them. Those robots are McFist's. He made a deal with the Sorcerer, the guy who stanks kids. In return for I think it was like a wish of some kind, he has to get rid of the ninja," Randy revealed.

"Then what are we waiting for? If you're okay with Phantom, then we shouldn't waste time," Danny decided.

"Wait, Danny. Quick question before you go. How did you get hurt?" Sam interjected quickly, if the robot somehow sensed the halfa and targeted Danny then they should be prepared.

"Er, got dazed by an explosion and wasn't fast enough to dodge the robot when it did a wild swing," Danny admitted, rubbing the back of his neck with slight embarrassment. Randy's eyes widened in surprise before becoming downcast with regret and guilt.

"That explosion was my fault. I was trying to stop the robot but it didn't work. I'm sorry Danny," Randy mumbled. Danny waved a hand dismissively.

"It's fine Randy. You didn't know I was there. Next time, you will," Danny assured easily. Randy looked up and gave the halfa a nervous smile in gratitude, nodding in agreement.

"Sam, you'll cover for us right?" Danny requested.

"No need to ask Danny. Go save Tucker and Howard," Sam retorted with a smile.

Danny grinned and turned to Randy expectantly. Randy bit his lip before pulling out the mask and putting it on. Ribbons of black fabric surged out from the ninja mask and enveloped Randy, forming the black and red ninja suit. The ninja breathed a sigh before nodding to Danny, he was ready. Danny smirked, almost playfully.

"Try to keep up," Danny commented before rocketing up into the air above the buildings surrounding them. Sam snorted, rolling her eyes. The ninja blinked in surprise and quickly scaled a drainpipe to get to the roof. Danny was floating expectantly nearby.

"Tucker and Howard will be at McFist Industries, right?" Danny asked having quickly realised that he didn't know where the robot took their friends. The ninja nodded.

"Race ya there," Danny challenged with a beaming grin, eager to use his powers after the last few days of being forced to lay low. A good exhilarating flight sounded wonderful to the halfa. The ninja opened his mouth to protest but Danny had already flown off, quickly gaining altitude to hide among the few low-lying clouds in the sky. The ninja blinked in alarm before he started sprinting off towards the massive pyramid glinting in the afternoon sun.

Danny let out a laugh as he revelled in flying once more after the last few days. He flew most days back home, if not every day. He didn't count floating during a ghost fight as flying. No, he meant flying for fun. He knew he was flying to the rescue to save Tucker and Howard from a killer robot that apparently the rich philanthropist of Norrisville built. Danny rolled his eyes at the thought. It seemed that most rich people had something hide. Sam wasn't even an exception. She hid her wealth to be treated as a regular person. Vlad had a number of evil plans to hide. And now McFist had joined the ranks of rich people hiding things. Danny scoffed to himself.

"I'm never trusting a rich person again. They all have secrets," Danny muttered before he dove down to the shining pyramid of McFist Industries. Danny couldn't help but smirk when he saw that he won his childish race to the pyramid.

 **And the secret's out. But there were so man hints that Randy should have realised that Danny at least had a secret before now.**

 **Anyway, Phantom and the ninja are off to the rescue. Will they be able to work together?**

 **Let me know what you guys think of the story so far.**

 **Until the next chapter.**


	16. Chapter 16

The ninja wasn't amused when he finally reached the massive building. He was panting tiredly while Danny merely floated at the top of the pyramid smirking at him. The ninja rolled his eyes and waited for Danny to come down. The pyramid, despite its sleek metallic sides, wasn't easy for him to climb. Especially when McFist was on his guard. Defence systems littered the entire thing, just waiting for the ninja to trigger them. Chuckling, Danny drifted down to the ninja's level.

"You took your time," Danny muttered with a playful smirk. The ninja rolled his eyes.

"Are you always this reckless?" the ninja retorted, pausing for a moment when he realised how ridiculous that sounded coming from him of all people. Danny's smirk widened.

"No, I'll get serious again during the fight but I love flying and I haven't been able to while we've been here," Danny admitted with a shrug. The ninja blinked before nodding in understanding, he could understand that. He loved using his ninja suit, if he were forced to spend time avoiding using his suit, he'd enjoy being able to use it again.

"How we getting in?" Danny wondered, slowly sobering after his flight. The ninja hummed thoughtfully.

"Vents might be good to start with. But we have to be ready for traps. McFist's security is tight and he knows I'm gonna come," the ninja suggested.

"We could go in my way," Danny offered. The ninja raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Do I want to ask what your way is?" the ninja muttered. He was not used to the entire idea of Danny having superpowers yet, in fact he didn't even know what powers Danny had. Danny grinned at the black clad teen.

"I can walk through walls Randy," Danny revealed. The ninja's eyes widened in surprise.

"What about me?" the ninja ventured nervously.

"I can bring you through walls too," Danny confirmed with a nod. The ninja frowned slightly at the thought. He knew about becoming one with the shadows but walking directly through solid walls was a lot different.

"Relax, it's fine. I do it with Sam and Tuck all the time. We just need to be careful about where we go through. Unless I turn us invisible too," Danny reassured before putting a hand to his chin in thought. The ninja blinked at the comment before sighing.

"Alright fine. Let's just get in there already," the ninja grumbled.

The ninja grabbed Danny's wrist and pulled the halfa over to the nearest wall of McFist Industries. Danny smirked at the ninja before flipping his hand and grasping the ninja's wrist. The black clad teen gasped in surprise as a cold tingling flowed from Danny's hand and through his body. Danny's smirk returned as he pulled the ninja forcefully into the wall. The ninja struggled instinctively but seconds later both teens were inside the building. With another chilled tingle, Danny turned them both invisible and began leading the ninja through the bare hallways. The ninja stumbled over his invisible feet, not used to walking while unable to see where his feet were.

"By the way, I should probably let you know what I can do huh?" Danny whispered as they crept invisibly through the corridors, Danny holding the ninja's wrist tightly.

"Good idea," the ninja agreed.

"Alright. I can fly, go intangible, er that's the walking through walls thing, turn invisible, fire green energy from my hands. I can overshadow things, it means I can kinda possess people and animals. Never tried tech, but I can go into video games. Anyway, I can make ice too, duplicate, erm make copies of myself and I have this scream that can bring down a building. Hopefully we'll not need that especially since it wipes me out," Danny listed quietly as they walked. The ninja stared at the back of Danny's invisible head with wide, awed eyes.

"What can you do?" Danny asked.

"I have my ninja sword. My scarf can come handy. Smoke bombs. I have a few ninja balls, like bee balls, cold balls, electro balls, um tiny giant exploding balls. I can control earth to a minor degree but that's not gonna help indoors," the ninja replied carefully.

"Alright then. Still can't hack huh," Danny remarked, invisibly glancing at the also invisible ninja.

"No. I'm such a schoob," the ninja admitted bitterly. Danny raised an eyebrow.

"Hey, hacking's hard. I dunno how to hack. Neither does Sam. It's nothing to be ashamed of or anything. Everyone has things they're good at and things they're bad at," Danny muttered.

The ninja nodded sadly. He still felt bad. It was the ninja's job to protect Norrisville. Hacking would help that. But he couldn't even hack a website without messing up. He was a horrible ninja. Becoming lost in his thoughts, the ninja didn't notice that Danny had stopped walking and bumped into the invisible halfa. Danny grunted in surprise and threw an invisible scowl at the ninja. The ninja shook off the surprise of bumping into the halfa and offered a sheepish grin despite his mask and current invisibility. The ninja looked up, unknowingly through Danny, and spotted the small group of robo-apes.

"They're easy to take out," the ninja whispered.

"I'm sure they are. But I don't know where I'm going but we had a tour here Sunday and they had maps on their welcome pamphlets. I'm hoping there's some at that desk. But we can't let those robots know we're here or they'll raise the alarm," Danny explained softly. The ninja hummed in understanding, nodding slightly while he scanned the corridor.

"We are invisible," the ninja reminded the halfa. Danny sighed.

"Yeah, but no offence Randy, but you're kind of slowing me down. I was thinking that you could hide back here and wait while I go get a map," Danny admitted carefully.

The ninja opened his mouth to protest but Danny shoved him back a few paces so that they were hidden by the corner. The cold tingling faded from the ninja and he became visible. The ninja huffed quietly and folded his arms, knowing that there was no point arguing with the still invisible halfa, for all he knew Danny could have already gone. Which was exactly what Danny did. The moment he was sure that the ninja wasn't going to argue or disregard Danny's plan, the halfa floated into the air to avoid making any sounds or leaving a trail the robo-apes might be able to follow.

He flew silently back around the corner invisibly and drifted past the gathered robots, ignoring their complaints about work hours. He did wonder at some level why McFist would want and build robots to work for him that didn't actually seem to enjoy their tasks. It seemed a bit cruel, especially since the robots wouldn't exactly be able to quit and find jobs they'd like. Shrugging the thought away, Danny reached the desk and grinned to himself when he spotted a small stack of pamphlets. He grabbed the top few, not taking the time to only take one and not caring that the stack was no longer perfectly neat. Danny turned the pages invisible instantly and drifted silently back to where he left the ninja.

Turning himself visible, he waved the pamphlets at the ninja with a victorious grin. The ninja rolled his eyes and held out a hand for one of the small booklets. Danny gave the ninja two and stuffed the rest into his belt. The ninja opened the pamphlet and scanned the large map.

"So we're about here," the ninja whispered as he pointed to the big red star denoting the welcome desk. Danny nodded slowly and allowed his gaze to drift over the page, having not bothered during the tour his school was given.

"There. Top secret project lab," Danny muttered, having read the label and pointed to a lab near the top of the building. The ninja nodded in agreement. He recognised the layout from the few times he broke in to stop McFist's crazy schemes to get rid of the ninja but not knowing the way due to the fact he never went through the lower levels before.

"Let's go then," the ninja decided, pushing both pamphlets into his own belt.

Danny turned himself invisible and grabbed the ninja under the armpits, turning the other teen invisible again.

"I think I'm faster than the elevator," Danny murmured in the ninja's ear before lifting them both into the air and flying through the next few floors, using his intangibility. The ninja only had enough time to squeak in alarm before Danny set them both back down in a corridor on the same floor as the lab they wanted.

"Could you warn me next time?!" the ninja hissed as Danny released him and they both flickered back into visibility. Danny smirked and shrugged.

"Sorry, I'm kinda used to working with Sam and Tuck and they know how I work," Danny replied softly. The ninja huffed but pushed his annoyance to one side.

The ninja pulled out one of the pamphlets in his belt and began scanning the map again, trying to figure out where Danny had brought them to now. It took a lot of working out but they eventually found where they were on the map and figured out how to get to the secret project lab. Once again invisible, Danny led the way down the halls and they soon reached the lab door. Danny took the initiative and simply phased them both inside. Danny couldn't help the gasp of awe as he saw the massive futuristic lab filled with robotic projects, including the robot that the ninja had been having trouble beating without resorting to Tucker and his amazing hacking skills. A tall, slender man was tinkering with a computer tablet while McFist paced impatiently, grumbling under his breath.

"What is taking so long!?" McFist exclaimed impatiently.

"Patience Hannibal. I'm trying to hack into their electronic devices to determine which one has been helping the ninja. Then we can start interrogating them," Viceroy answered calmly. Danny and the ninja followed the vague wave upwards and saw Howard and Tucker tied together and hanging from a thick metal truss. Howard looked quite bored, clearly waiting for rescue, whereas Tucker was wriggling to get free.

"But why is it taking you so long? They're _kids_!" McFist pressed. Viceroy rolled his eyes.

"The ninja is a teenager also Hannibal. You shouldn't underestimate children. Particularly when it comes to technology," Viceroy reminded his employer calmly. McFist scowled at the scientist and resumed impatiently pacing.

"How do you want to handle this?" Danny whispered.

"Er… you distract and I'll get Howard and Tucker," the ninja offered.

"Works for me," Danny agreed easily.

"Great, um… mind giving me a lift up to them?" the ninja requested sheepishly, Danny's flight was a lot easier than trying to climb up without being seen. Danny grinned, unnoticed due to invisibility, and grabbed the ninja's armpits again. Invisibly, Danny flew them both up into the shadowy rafters before releasing the ninja and drifting away. Taking advantage of the shadows, the ninja ran silently along the metal girder towards the captured teens. Howard spotted the ninja first as Tucker was still attempting to escape. The shorter teen grinned happily as the ninja ran over to him.

"What took you so long?!" Howard whispered, hiding his relief and joy at seeing his friend with annoyance.

"Danny got hurt and I had to wait for him," the ninja retorted as he found the tight knot in the rope.

"Is he alright?" Tucker inquired worriedly.

"Yeah, he has a headache but he said he's fine," the ninja assured. Tucker breathed a soft sigh of relief while the ninja began to fiddle and strain against the knot.

"I hate knots. I'm useless at getting them undone," the ninja grumbled to himself.

 **And the rescue is under way. We haven't seen much of Phantom and I wanted to show how they worked together to infiltrate the building, both so used to working a certain way.**

 **Let me know what you guys think so far.**

 **Make sure to check out my facebook page and watch the advert there for the winner of the poll. There's a link in my bio.**

 **Until the next chapter.**


	17. Chapter 17

Danny floated nearby Viceroy and McFist, making sure they weren't aware of the ninja above freeing their prisoners. If the halfa were honest, his task was extremely easy. Viceroy was distracted trying to hack into Tucker's PDA, which had security Tucker developed over four years to make it nearly impenetrable. Tucker tested it himself regularly making sure it was as hacker proof as possible. McFist was a little more of a problem since he was only occupied by his restless pacing rather than an actual activity but the man seemed happy enough to rant to himself about incompetent staff and how annoying children were, especially the ninja. In fact, Danny found the grumblings quite amusing to eavesdrop on.

Stifling yet another snigger as McFist made a particularly amusing comment about the ninja, Danny glanced up and frowned slightly as he noticed that the ninja was finding freeing Howard and Tucker difficult. He turned back to Viceroy as the scientist huffed loudly. Danny floated over to the scientist and peered over the man's shoulder. He smirked, proud of his best friend when he noticed that Viceroy was getting nowhere.

"Hannibal, I don't think I can hack into the boy's PDA," Viceroy admitted begrudgingly.

"What!? B-but you said you could!" McFist exclaimed, halting his pacing. Viceroy sighed softly before nodding.

"I did, but I underestimated his abilities. He is a very talented hacker," Viceroy replied, pocketing his tablet.

"So how are we gonna figure out which one is helping the ninja?" McFist retorted impatiently.

"We'll have to question them Hannibal. However, judging from the fact that the Casper High student has such impressive security, we should start with him," Viceroy suggested. McFist huffed loudly and looked up, only to spot the ninja struggling to untie the two tied up teens.

"The ninja!" McFist shouted, his hands curling into angry fists. Viceroy looked up and gasped, yanking out his tablet again. Danny dropped his invisibility and threw a snowball at Viceroy.

"Hey!" Danny yelled loudly, drawing both adults' attention.

"Who is he!?" McFist roared angrily. Tucker and Howard looked down when they heard Danny's yell. Tucker grinned happily while Howard's eyes widened in amazement. The ninja glanced down before resorting to cutting the rope and hoping that he wouldn't hurt his friends.

"Name's Phantom. Protector of Amity Park. The ninja's an old friend and he let me know some of my town's citizens were in danger so here I am," Danny semi-lied. McFist and Viceroy stared at Danny before McFist turned to Viceroy.

"What are you waiting for!? Turn on the robot!" McFist ordered worriedly. Viceroy nodded stiffly and tapped on his tablet.

Danny frowned and formed two more snowballs, throwing one at each adult's face. McFist dodged the frozen projectile but Viceroy was hit due to being distracted. Danny then charged his hand with ghost energy and aimed at the tablet. Viceroy looked up with annoyance, wiping the snow off his face. His eyes widened in alarm and dove away from the ghost ray just in time. Danny snapped his fingers in disappointment.

"Nearly got it," he grumbled. His next attempt at frying the electronic device was interrupted by a creaking and groaning noise from the massive robot. Danny's glowing hand faded as he spun around to face the robot as it came to life.

"Crud," Danny breathed, he didn't want to deal with this robot without Tucker as back up.

The ninja finally cut through the thick rope holding both captured teens. Howard and Tucker screamed as they fell, dropping ungracefully on a catwalk. The ninja jumped down to them and helped Howard to his feet.

"Get out of here. I'll try and hack in and shut the robot down," the ninja hissed, pointing towards the door and shoving a pamphlet into their hands.

"But Randy-" Tucker began.

"Just go," the ninja insisted as he jogged away, pulling his phone out of his belt.

Danny glared at the scientist before he floated up into the air and faced the massive robot. He charged his hands with energy and fired.

"Just so you know, I'm _really_ talented at breaking things," Danny quipped over his shoulder, flinching as one of his blasts ricocheted off the robot's body and smashed a window.

"Just not the right stuff apparently," Danny muttered to himself. Seeing that ghost rays weren't working, Danny decided to get closer to the robot to try and figure out a new tactic.

The ninja growled in frustration as he continued to have difficulty in hacking the killer robot.

"Why can't I do this!?" the ninja snarled angrily, shaking the phone furiously. He glanced down before shimmering writing appeared in front of his eyes.

"Some weapons are not meant to fit in a ninja's toolbox," the ninja muttered to himself, scowling in confusion.

"What the cheese? Nomicon that doesn't make sense," the ninja whispered in confusion. Suddenly a glowing cross appeared over his phone and arrows pointed at Danny who was dodging around the robot with his powers skilfully. The ninja blinked before gasping loudly in understanding.

"You didn't mean I shouldn't keep weapons in a toolbox. You meant that I'm not meant to try hacking when I can't do it. I'm supposed to use the skills and weapons I have," the ninja realised. With a grin, the ninja shoved his phone back into his belt and flipped over the railing, landing on the ground below gracefully.

"You get the civilians to safety ninja!?" Danny shouted as he froze the robot's feet to the ground.

"Yeah. Need a hand Phantom?" the ninja answered, confidence returning to him now that he was in his comfort zone. Danny glanced at the ninja and smirked.

"Sure," the halfa retorted before flying to one side and the robot missed Danny when it made a grab at him. The ninja ran forward and pulled out an electro ball.

"Heads up! Ninja electro ball!" the ninja warned. The ball landed directly beneath the massive robot and crackling white electricity arched outward and encased the robot. Danny winced in sympathy.

"Thanks, I've been electrocuted before and it isn't fun," Danny remarked. The ninja raised a questioning eyebrow but decided against asking questions.

"Any ideas on how to destroy this thing once and for all?" the ninja inquired hopefully.

"Been trying to get close enough to come up with a plan," Danny admitted as he floated closer to the robot, still being shocked. As he got closer, the halfa unexpectedly grinned.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me. Ha! Its head is exactly like Skulker's!" Danny exclaimed with a laugh.

"Huh?" the ninja retorted in confusion.

"You can't cut open its body right? I can get the head off!" Danny revealed, still grinning. The ninja stared at the halfa in disbelief as the electro ball stopped working. Danny darted forward and grabbed the robot's head, flipping a couple of stiff hidden clasps. Within seconds, the halfa had pulled the head off the robot and into the air. The robot's limbs still flailed around, trying to hit Danny or the ninja, but without its head, its attacks lacked direction or aim. The ninja blinked before mirroring Danny's grin under his mask and pulled out his katana.

"Ninja sword!" the ninja bellowed triumphantly and sprinted towards the robot, easily dodging the uncontrolled attacks and jumped into the robot's body and began slashing the numerous wires.

Danny chuckled as he tossed the robot head to one side, dusting his hands of imaginary dust.

"Viceroy!" McFist screamed angrily as the robot sagged before tumbling to the floor, cracking numerous tiles, lifeless.

"I had to get into the wiring somehow," Viceroy began to reason. While the ninja resumed destroying the robot on the inside, Danny turned himself invisible and flew over to Viceroy and stole back Tucker's PDA and Howard's phone, completely unnoticed. He then created a duplicate which appeared beside McFist. The duplicate tapped the man's shoulder.

"What!?" McFist snapped.

"Stay away from those students. You don't want to see a vengeful spirit, trust me. If those kids get hurt, I'll be back and haunt this company until you go bankrupt. One call from the ninja and I'll be back," Danny's duplicate threatened. McFist shrank away from the halfa nervously, nodding obediently.

The ninja flipped out of the robot and Danny flew after the black clad teen as he ran for the door, turning the ninja invisible before they reached the door, knowing it would freak the adults out. Danny phased them into the corridor beyond and drifted away from the ninja, laughing loudly.

"Did you see their faces!?" Danny chuckled. The ninja smiled and nodded.

"That was the brucest thing I've ever seen. Thanks for the help Danny," the ninja agreed. Danny wiped his face, calming down gradually.

"No problem," Danny replied with a smile.

"Ninja!" Howard whisper-shouted from a janitor closet doorway nearby. Both teen heroes turned to Howard and casually joined him, spotting Tucker behind the shorter teen.

"Thanks for saving us. And um, Phantom thanks," Howard muttered sheepishly, truly wanting to shout at his friend for not protecting him in the first place.

"No prob Howard. Tuck, catch!" Danny replied with a smirk, tossing Tucker his PDA.

"Danny! No!" Tucker exclaimed worriedly, catching his PDA fearfully. Danny rolled his eyes, smirking at his friend before handing Howard his phone.

"When did you get those?" the ninja inquired surprised.

"You were trashing the robot. I pickpocketed the scientist," Danny explained.

"Woah woah! Wait a sec. How did you know my name?" Howard interjected, pocketing his phone having given it a quick inspection for damage and found none. Tucker and the ninja stiffened, having thought that Danny slipped up.

"Chill Randy, I know you won't keep it secret from Howard. I'll explain once we get out of here," Danny assured, Howard's eyes widening in alarm and shock when he realised that the newcomer knew the ninja's secret.

 **It's only fair that Howard finds out too.**

 **But the undefeatable robot has been defeated!**

 **And Randy figured out the nomicon's message. Be honest, did any of you figure it?**

 **We're getting near to the end of the fanfic now. So let me know what you guys think of the story so far.**

 **Make sure to check out my facebook page and the advert for the next fanfic which will start tomorrow. There's a link in my bio.**

 **Also I got a question yesterday asking if I wrote a chapter a day to post or if the story was prewritten. Every story I put as an option for the poll is prewritten and ready for posting because that way I am certain the story won't get abandoned halfway through, especially since Ii usually have a few stories going at a time and hop between stories randomly.**

 **Until the next chapter.**


	18. Chapter 18

The four boys returned to Randy's house, Tucker calling Sam along the way to meet them. Danny carried Tucker and Howard across town while Randy, still as the ninja, used the rooftops. Danny phased his passengers into Randy's bedroom, ignoring Howard's alarmed, slightly frightened, gasp. Tucker was completely enveloped in checking his beloved PDA for damage, hardware or software. Howard however remained wary of the halfa, confused and worried by Danny's knowledge.

"Are you really friends with the ninja?" Howard ventured while they waited for Sam and Randy. Danny drifted into a seated position mid-air casually.

"Yep," Danny confirmed with a smirk, enjoying the confusion on Howard's face. Blame his ghost side, ghosts were naturally mischievous, some just took it further than others.

Randy stomped into the room and collapsed on his bed, mask safely screwed up and stored in his pocket.

"Do you have to fly so fast?" Randy moaned, slightly breathless still. Danny chuckled.

"Not my fault you can't keep up," Danny teased.

" _I_ have to stay out of sight and dodge chimneys! You can just turn invisible!" Randy complained loudly. Danny laughed.

"Perks of being me," Danny retorted, enjoying being able to brag about something the ninja couldn't do. It felt good to find something in his favour rather than the ninja.

"Can you tell me now how you know so much?" Howard inquired impatiently, Danny having refused to answer without everyone present.

"Gotta wait for Sam first Howard," Danny reminded the shorter teen.

"B-but-" Howard began. Tucker let out a loud sigh of relief.

"They didn't hurt my baby," Tucker announced. Randy and Howard blinked in confusion and turned to the techno-geek while Danny sniggered.

"Baby?" Randy repeated with a raised eyebrow.

"Of course!" Tucker agreed animatedly. Danny rolled his eyes.

"I introduce Tucker, Casper High's own techno-geek. He's convinced his tech has feelings. We're trying to get him help," Danny joked. Tucker glared at Danny.

"Do I have to bring up a certain lock of hair you have," Tucker threatened.

"I'm a ghost. It's natural for me to take things too far. Besides, I was under a spell at the time," Danny replied, dismissing the threat easily.

"I know you still have it," Tucker deadpanned.

"Hello! Ghost," Danny pressed, desperately trying to supress the blush rising on his cheeks.

The doorbell rang and the boys all shared looks, silently trying to get the others to answer the door.

"Fine! I'll get it," Randy grumbled, rolling to his feet tiredly.

"It is your house," Tucker pointed out.

"I'd hurry up though unless you want Sam breaking in. She'll do it," Danny warned. Randy blinked before his eyes widened with the recollection that Sam taught him to pick locks. Howard huffed softly, crossing his arms impatiently.

"I guess we have to wait for Danny now too," Howard muttered. Tucker and Danny shared a secret glance knowingly. Sam walked in with a smile.

"Glad to see you're still alive Howard. You too Tuck," Sam greeted calmly. Danny waited a moment before waving at the Goth.

"Er, hello? Where's my greeting?" Danny inquired, semi-joking, semi-serious. Sam smirked at him.

"I'd prefer to wait for my friend to make an appearance," Sam retorted cryptically. Tucker snorted loudly with amusement.

"I get no respect," Danny muttered, pouting playfully, Sam and Tucker laughed.

"Can you get on with it? I kinda want to relax over a game of Grave Puncher," Randy interjected as he flopped on his bed yet again.

"What's with him?" Sam asked curiously.

"Lost a race," Tucker answered with a smirk.

"It wasn't a race!" Randy protested.

"Dude, it was a race. You lost. Get over it. I can fly about 120mph," Danny retorted.

"Then hurry up now!" Randy snapped tiredly. Danny smirked before turning to Howard, his amusement visibly shifting into nervousness.

"Um, it's probably best I just show you and then explain. But… please don't run away or anything and… you gotta keep this to yourself," Danny began nervously. Howard blinked in surprise before nodding slowly in agreement.

Danny nodded curtly and took a deep steadying breath. He floated down and set his feet on the carpet and closed his eyes, he wasn't sure how Howard would react and he wasn't sure he wanted to see the reaction. A bright white band of light appeared around his waist. Howard's impatient expression faded into wonderment and awe as the light split and slid across the ghost's body, revealing a very familiar human one. Howard openly gaped at Danny Fenton as the teen hesitantly opened his now blue eyes. Sam and Tucker waited with bated breath for Howard's reaction while Danny stayed as still as possible, his heart pounding in his chest. Randy glanced at the scene, already knowing what Howard would say but he felt like getting a little revenge on the halfa for the race across town.

"That… was…" Howard began slowly, his voice level and serious.

"Honking bruce! How is that even possible!?" Howard exclaimed excitedly. Danny, Sam and Tucker visibly relaxed and grinned at the response.

"Lab accident in my parent's lab in our basement," Danny admitted sheepishly. Randy raised an eyebrow.

"Wait a sec, I never asked… do your parents really hunt Phantom? Hunt you?" Randy questioned, a bubble of worry and concern surfacing. Danny pursed his lips sadly and nodded.

"Yeah. Well, they don't exactly know it's me. But… yeah they do," Danny confirmed sadly.

"That's wonk," Randy sympathised and Howard nodded in agreement.

"Just my life. But I think my sister's getting through to them that I mightn't be a bad thing for Amity Park. I'm pretty sure they go after the other guy before attacking me now," Danny replied thoughtfully. Randy and Howard shared a glance, that didn't exactly sound much better to them.

"I bet you have some funny stories," Howard ventured hopefully.

"We all do," Sam affirmed with a grin.

"How about we get some snacks and play a round of Grave Puncher before we swap stories?" Randy suggested. Danny, Sam, Tucker and Howard shared a simple glance before eagerly agreeing with smiles.

The next day, Norrisville High and Casper High had their delayed basketball match. The gym was repaired during the time Casper High were forced to stay in town, mostly due to the fact that construction had stopped in the housing estate to make it safe for the students to stay in. It was a close game but Dash managed to make the final basket, breaking the tie, within the last minute of the game. Lancer had been very worried about Danny because of the obvious head injury and had actually forbade the teen from being the mascot during the second half, as planned. Danny wasn't complaining although the bandages that Sam bought and wrapped around his head were annoying. Dash found it hilarious though, making the new nickname of Fen-enstein, one of the jock's smarter insults. Danny didn't bother to correct the blonde on the fact that Frankenstein was the scientist, not the monster. Sam and Tucker had found the insult hilarious too since it was so close to the truth.

The game was played in the morning and at lunch there was a surprise delivery of five hundred tacos. Randy had flushed bright red when he admitted to his friends that he ordered them by accident when he tried to the hack the robot. Then at the end of the day, after almost a week of waiting, a new bus arrived at Norrisville High to take the Casper High students home.

Howard simply waved to the trio of friends before walking off in the general direction of Greg's Game Hole.

"He's crying on the inside," Randy assured carefully.

"It's fine Randy. Take care of yourself, alright," Sam replied calmly and hugged the teen. Tucker then hugged the teen, distracting Randy from the fact that Sam had pickpocketed his phone and tossed it to Danny. Danny smirked as he send himself a text using Randy's phone and inputting his number in the contacts list. He then gave Randy a brief hug, more a thump on the back, and returned the phone.

"See ya around," Danny concluded before the trio walked over to the bus, smirking at their final prank.

Randy smiled and waved at the bus as it drove away.

"Cunningham! Hurry up!" Howard whined.

"Alright Howard, I'm coming," Randy called soothingly. As they walked, Randy's phone gave a short jingle. Randy pulled it out and his eyes widened at the text message. Howard grabbed the phone curiously.

"Next time, watch your pockets. Let me know if you ever need an invisible hand," the text read, the contact name above being Danny Fenton.

"When did they get your phone!?" Howard exclaimed, impressed.

"I have no idea! I should have asked them to teach me that," Randy replied, scolding himself for the missed lesson.

"Didn't the nomicon warn you against that?" Howard pointed out.

"Yeah… but there's no harm in trying to find tools to try and fit in my toolbox you know. As long as I don't force them in, like the hacking," Randy reasoned. Howard blinked slowly before shrugging.

"Whatever, you're the ninja. By the way… you owe me a portion of fries and a fistful of dimes," Howard informed his friend, holding out a hand expectantly for the cash.

"Oh, here," Randy muttered without thinking handing the money to the shorter boy before he realised that he didn't owe Howard any money at all and if he did, Howard owed a lot more anyway. Howard however hadn't waited for Randy to realise his mistake and rushed off into the arcade to get some food and grab a game. Randy sighed, rolling his eyes and let the whole thing go. He glanced at his phone, smirked at the message and tapped out a thank you before pocketing the device, following Howard into the arcade.

 **Couldn't resist giving Danny and co the last laugh.**

 **Anyway, that's the end. Let me know what you thought of the story now that it's over.**

 **I'd like to thank everyone who took the time to read the fanfic and I hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I did writing.**

 **Again, sorry for the wait, but that just proves that I do requests, even though they might take a long time to be posted. Check out my website if you have a request for me. There's a link in my bio.**

 **I'd also like to thank everyone that took the time to leave a review. It honestly makes my day to see you guys interacting with me throughout the story, leaving theories or comments. I love hearing your thoughts. I'll be putting some of my favourites on my website to keep an eye out for that. Again, there's a link in my bio.**

 **The first chapter of the winner of the poll will be posted today so keep an eye out for it. I have an advert on my facebook page if you want to watch that first. There's a link in my bio.**

 **So, I think that's everything…**

 **Until the next fanfic.**


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